pileofcrapola

There are many perks of growing old — seeing your kids have kids, wearing shirts that say “World’s Best Grandma,” calling rowdy youngsters “whippersnappers” and more — and getting discounts on things is definitely not the least of those. But one centenarian learned that he’d reached a point where you can actually get a free mail and get paid just for your age.

A 101-year-old New Hampshire man had breakfast on the house at a Manchester restaurant that rewards customers dining on their birthdays with a discount based on their age, reports WMUR.com.

So for example, if you’re turning five years old, the restaurant covers 5% of your bill. If you’re 85, you get 85% of your tab paid. That means that at 100, your birthday meal is free — and at 101, you actually get 101% of your meal paid for — or a 1% refund.

Thus, after chomping on scrambled eggs and ham and a piece of chocolate cake for free, the World War II veteran got $0.07 back from the restaurant. Not a bad birthday gift, if you ask me.

Man, 101, eats birthday breakfast on the house [WMUR.com]

It might be smelly work, but somebody’s gotta do it: Seattle officials are looking to hire a “Comfort Station Coordinator” in Seattle, a veritable Goldilocks tasked with finding bathrooms that are just right for bus drivers. And stench aside, the gig pays pretty well, at a salary of $97,000 per year.

It’s not easy for bus drivers to just pull over and find a place to go while they’re on the job, so the new potty spotter will be responsible for finding easily-accessible restrooms for the almost 2,600 bus drivers in King County, reports KOMO News.

“It’s not just somebody running around telling drivers where they can pee. We have an obligation under the law. We take it really seriously,” said Jeff Switzer, a spokesman for Metro Transit.

“It’s our job to make sure they have access to restrooms, so when we’re driving commuters, when we’re driving passengers downtown, bus drivers can also stop and use the bathroom, too,” he added.

This, after an audit by the state Department of Labor and Industries last November found that drivers weren’t given unrestricted access to restrooms. Some even admitted to wearing diapers because they said they felt pressured to stick strictly to their routes.

“If there’s not a bathroom there, we have to kind of hold it until we can find one,” one driver of 10 years. “Because of the uniform, most people are pretty nice to us. They’ll let us use them.”

The agency says the $97,000 ballpark salary figure depends on the employee’s experience, and that it will be accepting applicants through March 5. Candidates should have a number of years of experience, with the agency calling the salary comparable to other managerial positions.

Metro Transit hiring ‘bathroom czar’ to solve potty problem [KOMO News]

Just about everyone knows that the vital shelf space on a supermarket shelf is right below eye level, where your eyes are naturally drawn to products and you don’t have to crouch or crane your neck to see. A new study claims that vertical positioning on a shelf doesn’t just impact whether or not we see a product, but what kinds of purchasing decisions we make.

This is according to a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research that looks at whether we perceive items differently based on whether we’re looking up or down at them.

The idea tested by researchers from Ghent University in Belgium is that humans process different stimuli when looking down versus up. More precisely, that because we so often look downward at detailed items that are within close proximity — books, computers, watches — humans seek out more concrete information than when we turn our view upwards to take a more generalized look at things in the distance.

“Consumers may be so used to paying detailed and focused attention when they are looking down that they
might also do this when selecting a product from a low shelf,” suggests the report. “Similarly, consumers may be so used to taking a broader perspective when looking up that they will also do this when selecting a product from a higher shelf.”

In one experiment, college students were blindfolded and seated in a chair that positioned their heads at either 30% upward or 30% downward while someone described a scene at a lake with a boat on it. When asked afterward to estimate how far away they imagined the boat to be, subjects with downward-tilted heads said around 29 feet on average, while those whose heads had been tilted up estimated an average of 83 feet, more than 2.5 times as far away.

The researchers believe this shows that, because the subjects were blindfolded, the perception difference has more to do with the body movement of looking up or down than the actual seeing of these items.

A later study more directly related to retail involved making a purchase decision with subjects heads at different angles.

Subjects were instructed to keep their heads tilted upward, downward, or keep them level while responding to a series of questions. One question asked them to make a decision about buying a printer between two models.

Printer A was described as “higher in reliability (with a score of 9 out of 10) and slightly lower in quality (with a score of 8 out of 10)” while Printer B was “lower in reliability (scoring 8 out of 10) but higher in quality (scoring 9 out of 10).” So Printer A, according to the researchers, is a product that scores higher in a more concrete aspect — reliability — while Printer B outscores the other product in the more generalized “quality” aspect.

Test subjects were asked to decide on a printer by dividing 100 points between the two competing items then rate the quality and reliability of each product on a 9-point scale.

The results show that subjects who looked up were more likely to choose Printer B (the “higher quality” but less reliable model) than either those who looked down or looked straight ahead. And those who looked down were the least likely to select Printer B.

“[E]ngaging in bodily movements that enable consumers to look down increases the importance of feasibility attributes over desirability attributes,” explain the researchers, “while engaging in bodily movements that enable consumers to look up increases the importance of desirability attributes over feasibility attributes.”

In terms of how their findings can impact the marketing of retail products, the researchers believe that established brands with large market shares may benefit from shelf positions that require the consumer to look down a bit, as their study found subjects more often selected their most preferred brands when looking down.

“Consequently, when all competitive brands appear in low positions, the market share of the market leader (which is often the most preferred brand) is likely to become even larger when all competitive brands appear in low rather than high positions,” explains the report. “Similarly, our results suggest differences in the processing of in-store ads that hang from the store ceiling, floorboards attached to the store floor, and eye-level ads on shelves.”

The research may also impact online commerce, as most of us are looking downward at our laptop and smartphone screens when we shop at Amazon and the like. In fact, a consumer’s purchase-related decision making may be influenced by whether they’re browsing a site at work, where they are more likely to be looking straight ahead at their monitor, or on a tablet or phone, which is usually positioned much lower.

The study authors believe that more research on the actual retail implications of their findings is needed.

Last year, we brought you the news that Prairie Farms sells Easter-themed dairy beverages: specifically, jellybean milk and Easter egg nog. Now the company has partnered with Just Born, creators of Peeps marshmallow-shaped holiday treats, to sell Peep-flavored milk. Yes, that just means sugar, artificial flavors, and food coloring. That’s what Peeps are.

Whether you think this is a neat cross-branding opportunity or a holiday mashup nightmarescape, it doesn’t matter what your opinion is. Peeps milk will continue to exist. Last year, when we learned that Easter egg nog was a thing, we learned that it wasn’t a new thing: spring nogs have been on the market since the ’90s.

Of course, nothing stops anyone from making their own egg nog at any time of year. The more important question is whether we really need heavily-sugared milk beverages to encourage milk-drinking in children. Jelly beans and sugar-coated marshmallows are great foods in moderation, but that doesn’t mean we ought to mix every beverage up with them. It’s like wrapping every food in bacon.

Prairie Farms and PEEPS® Team Up to Bring You America’s Newest Milk Flavors! [Prairie Farms] (Thanks, JT!)

Yesterday, Netflix announced that it would be releasing a new movie, Beasts of No Nation, later this year simultaneously on its streaming service and in theaters, leading the nation’s biggest exhibitors to cry boycott and say they will refuse to show the film. But not Alamo Drafthouse, which doesn’t seem fazed by having to compete for consumers who can just stay home and see the movie.

The four largest theater chains — AMC, Regal, Cinemark, and Carmike — have all said they won’t show the movie about child soldiers in Africa from True Detective director Cary Fukunaga, because Netflix is violating the traditional minimum 90-day window between theatrical release and appearing online.

But Tim League, CEO and founder of the growing Texas-based Alamo Drafthouse chain tells Variety he’s “agnostic” about these long-observed divisions between theatrical and home video releases.

“I look at films I want to play and I play them regardless of the release strategy,” he explains, saying that he’s had success with films like last year’s hyper-violent sci-fi flick Snowpiercer, which did well for Alamo while it was simultaneously available on-demand for home viewers.

“I don’t look at myself as a competitor to Netflix,” explains League. “I think that argument is a little bit of a red herring. I watch a lot of movies at home, but there comes a time where I want to get out of the house. I look at cinemas as one of those options that compete with restaurants or baseball games or all of those things I can’t do in my living room.”

There have been a growing number of films hitting on-demand video services like Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, or iTunes while they were still in theaters, but many have been very small art-house productions that get poor theatrical distribution outside of the major metropolitan markets.

And even though Beasts boasts a hot young director and the starpower of lead actor Idris Elba, it probably still wouldn’t have played more than a few hundred theaters during its theatrical release.

What seems to have raised exhibitors’ ire is that Netflix itself is releasing the movie and that the film will be available for no additional cost to Netflix subscribers.

Last week we expressed hope that new McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook would do more than pay lip service to concerns about over-use of medically important antibiotics in farm animals, and today there appears to be some not-bad news coming out of the Golden Arches. The fast food mega-chain says it will only source chickens raised without the use of antibiotics that are important to humans and will offer milk that doesn’t contain artificial growth hormone.

“Our customers want food that they feel great about eating,” explains McDonald’s U.S President Mike Andres in a statement, “all the way from the farm to the restaurant – and these moves take a step toward better delivering on those expectations.”

Antibiotics are commonly added to animal feed, primarily for their growth-promoting effects. While this is good for farmers, scientists and public health advocates have long warned that over-use of antibiotics — especially those deemed medically important to humans — can engender the development and spread of drug-resistant pathogens.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 2 million people in America become ill with drug-resistant infections every year; about 430,000 of them from food-borne bacteria.

McDonald’s restaurants buy a significant chunk of chicken raised in the U.S. It joins the ranks of other chain eateries like Chipotle, Panera, and Chick fil-A that have either already stopped sourcing chickens raised on medically important antibiotics or are in the process of phasing those birds out.

Additionally, two of the country’s biggest poultry companies — Perdue and Tyson — have each agreed to curb antibiotic use in their birds.

“McDonald’s believes that any animals that become ill deserve appropriate veterinary care and our suppliers will continue to treat poultry with prescribed antibiotics, and then they will no longer be included in our food supply,” said Marion Gross, senior vice president of McDonald’s North America Supply Chain.

The news is being welcomed by advocates who have called for reductions in the use of antibiotics in farm animals, which currently account for around 80% of all antibiotics sold in the U.S.

The group Keep Antibiotics Working labels McDonald’s decision an important first step.

“While we know that change won’t happen overnight, we’re committed to working with the company as it moves forward with its implementation plan,” reads a statement from KAW senior analyst Steve Roach. “Antibiotic resistance is an urgent public health threat and the fast food industry has an important role to play in driving change, especially given the inability of Congress to address pressing problems and the weak response from the regulatory agencies.”

The Natural Resource Defense Counsel’s Jonathan Kaplan writes that, “The battle between humans and antibiotic resistant bacteria shifted favorably toward the humans today,” and the fast food giant’s decision is “good news for McDonald’s customers and anyone else who might someday need an effective antibiotic.”

Caroline Smith DeWaal, Food Safety Director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest believes the McDonald’s policy change “should have major reverberations throughout the meat and poultry industry” and that it “should inspire regulators to prohibit the overuse of medically important antibiotics in animal agriculture altogether.”

DeWaal and other advocates have also expressed hope that McDonald’s will ultimately expand the antibiotics policy to cover the beef and pork it sources.

The second announcement from today involves milk from cows treated with the artificial growth hormone rbST.

The company contends that “no significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rbST-treated and non-rbST-treated cows,” but acknowledges that some customers simply don’t want it.

When documenting a trip to the nation’s capital, tourists might enjoy having a few photographs of themselves against the backdrops of the memorials and monuments that fill the city. But if you were thinking of using a selfie stick to get just the right angle while posing in front of the Hope Diamond at the Natural History Museum, you might want to think again. 

The Washington Business Journal reports that the Smithsonian, which operates 19 museums and galleries in Washington, D.C., Virginia and New York City, as well as the National Zoological Park, updated its security policy to include a ban on the use of selfie sticks.

A selfie stick, for those unfamiliar with the phenomenon, is essentially a long pole that holds a smartphone at one end, allowing users to get a better angle when taking self-portraits.

According to the updated policy, the ban on selfie sticks was implemented as a “preventive measure to protect visitors and objects, especially during crowded conditions.”

As with the institution’s ban on tripods and monopods, if you’re a member of the media and for some reason need to use a selfie stick, you must first get permission from the museum’s Public Affairs Office.

Of course the Smithsonian’s ban on selfie sticks isn’t an indication that the museums detest duck face photography. In fact, the institution encourages visitors to take “selfies and share their experiences” – just not by way of a selfie stick.

The Smithsonian’s ban on the sticks comes less than a month after a number of other museums – including the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and The Guggenheim, all in New York City, the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum in D.C. and the Getty Center in Los Angeles – implemented similar policies on the camera sticks.

Bringing a selfie stick to a Smithsonian museum? You’ll be asked to stick it … somewhere else [Washington Business Journal]

WASHINGTON — Move over, slow down, and keep your seat belt on. While it may sound like common sense in order to give police, tow trucks and other emergency response the space to safely do their job, Virginia State Police say the region needs a reminder after three state troopers were hit last month in just one week.

While all three troopers survived the serious crashes, the law requiring drivers to slow down or move over is also meant to protect people like Hicham “AJ” Nadji, the Fairfax Towing and Recovery driver killed in December when a driver struck him on the side of the Beltway near Tysons.

“One wrong step, that could be my life. Everybody has a life, a family, and someone to go home to at night, so try to do your best to pay attention and watch what you’re doing,” company manager Dan Strouth says.

“Just give us room out there on the roads, pay attention, stay off your phones, stop messing with your radios, navigations. Stop being distracted,” he adds.

Trooper Michael McSellers was stopped on the Beltway on Feb. 17 not far from where Nadji was hit when an out of control pickup truck slammed into his patrol car.

He says it started like a regular work day, but he was concerned about how fast people were driving after it had snowed the night before.

“People in four-wheel drive vehicles continued to drive like it was a regular day,” McSellers says. “I’m sitting there, and I’m like ‘please lord, don’t let me get hit.’ And, within 15 minutes, I was hit.”

His cruiser was hit from behind into the car he was trying to help, and the cruiser also slammed into the guardrail.

“That moment, that day, could have ended my life. If it had been a minute later, I would have stepped out of my vehicle, and I might not be here,” he reflects.

He asks simply that drivers follow the law, and move over to an open lane if it is possible, or otherwise slow down. He says his life, and his family’s future, depends on it.

According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, traffic-related crashes or incidents are among the leading causes of line-of-duty death for police officers.

Thirty-two officers were killed in non-felony car crashes in 2014 alone.

A first violation of the move over law in Virginia is punishable by a $250 fine, while any further violations are classified as misdemeanors with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. If the violation leads to a crash, a court can also suspend the driver’s license.

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WASHINGTON — Where is the best place to be in the event of a zombie apocalypse? It’s a question many have pondered, but now scientists have the answer — and D.C.’s brains don’t fare well when it comes to encroaching flesh-eating undead.

Cornell University researchers built a statistical model to determine what a zombie outbreak would look like and how it would spread through the United States.

The model confirmed what many in the nation’s densely populated regions fear: The key to surviving the zombie apocalypse is to live as far away from a city as possible, reports The Washington Post.

The interactive model the researchers developed shows the D.C. area getting swallowed by zombies within the first 48 hours.

Other, more remote, areas could be spared for days, weeks, months or even years, researchers found.

“It’s bad to be near any big city,” Alex Alemi, a researcher with the project, said to The Washington Post.

He says in a far-removed city, “it would be a situation where you’re watching chaos on television, but where you are everything would remain unchanged.”

The researchers’ model is built on some fundamentals. One is the “bite-to-kill” ratio, which measures how often a person would kill a zombie versus how often a zombie would infect a human. Also, the model assumes that zombies can only travel by foot.

Additionally, the model says transportation breaks down during a zombie event, meaning if you live in D.C. when the outbreak occurs, you can’t get in or out.

“Transportation would likely break down in an outbreak,” Alemi said to The Post.

Alemi contends that there is really no hope in a zombie apocalypse situation and that eventually it would kill us all.

“Zombies are unique and very different than other diseases in that victims of other diseases either get better or succumb to the disease,” Alemi told The Post.

“But zombies are the undead. They don’t get better. And the only way to stop them is for a human to kill the zombie. With other diseases, no matter how many infections you model, the disease is not going to infect every single person. But in the zombie model, you really can turn every single person into a zombie.”

Don’t go packing up to head to a remote area just yet, Alemi says. A rush to underpopulated regions would only make them vulnerable.

Also, he reminds people to not get too carried away with the possibilities of an attack from bloodthirsty undead. The research is a way to apply hard science to a popular, fun topic.

The Cornell researchers will present their findings at the 2015 American Physical Society March Meeting, on Thursday, March 5, in San Antonio, Texas.

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WASHINGTON — Little girls may be made of sugar, spice and everything nice, but that doesn’t mean their dresses need to be. In fact, a successful Kickstarter campaign is proving that many little girls prefer their clothes to be made with patterns of planes, trains and math equations.

It all started in 2013, when Rebecca Melsky’s two-year-old refused to wear anything but a dress.

“Occasionally we could get her in a skirt, but really just dresses all the time,” Melsky says.

But at the end of the day, when it came time to trade in those dresses for a pair of PJs, the toddler was more flexible in her fashion demands. Melsky even bought some of her PJs from the boys department because her daughter loved the patterns.

“In addition to wearing dresses, she also liked dinosaurs and robots and spaceships and things,” she says. “I thought, ‘Why doesn’t someone make a dress with a dinosaur on it — or a spaceship? Because she would totally wear that.’ And then I thought, ‘Someone should do that. Maybe I should do that. How do I do that?’”

She approached her friend Eva St. Clair, and soon after, the two Silver Spring residents launched Princess Awesome — a company that makes dresses with robots instead of ruffles and pirates instead of pink flowers.

To make their first run of dresses, which they sold at a church bazaar, the duo fired up St. Clair’s old Singer sewing machine, which she bought at a Goodwill store when she was nine.

“We sold 75 percent within a few weeks, and basically had sold out within a couple months after that,” Melsky says.

It was clear that the two Princess Awesome co-founders needed to grow their company — and move their production out of St. Clair’s basement. But securing a factory was an expensive hurdle, and so was printing their own cotton fabric, which is designed by a female rocket scientist.

Like many startups, they turned to Kickstarter and launched a campaign to raise $35,000. Melsky and St. Clair quickly exceeded their goal, raising close to $200,000.

“It’s just amazing how wonderfully it’s taken off. We’re going to be able to do five styles and more sizes,” St. Clair says. And since they reached their stretch goal, they’ll be able to launch a second line of dresses.

St. Clair says production will begin in May, and that the dresses should be ready by June or July. But for fans of their frocks, the Princess Awesome dresses can’t come soon enough.

“We’ve heard people say things like, ‘If only this existed when I was a child.’ Many, many people have said, ‘Why aren’t you making adult sizes?’” St. Clair says. “It’s not just validating, but we’re so grateful that people are so excited to be able to have this kind of product that they can offer their girls — that it’s something that they want for their children, just like we want it for our children.”

Both Melsky and St. Clair say that while they are excited about the success of the Kickstarter campaign, they don’t have any immediate plans to open a brick-and-mortar store. Instead, they plan to grow their online store and possibly sell in other retail locations.

“We’ve been contacted by boutiques all over the country, and we would be particularly honored to hang in some of our favorite shops in D.C., but we’re still working out the economics of wholesale,” Melsky says.

Watch what Princess Awesome plans to do with the Kickstarter money: 

 

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WASHINGTON — The National Zoo’s baby panda is all grown up, and zoo keepers are moving her out of the enclosure she shared with mom and into her own digs.

“Anybody who has been watching Bao Bao grow up, she’s a lot bigger. She’s a lot more independent,” says Dr. Brandie Smith, senior curator of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.

There comes time in any giant panda’s life when he needs his own bamboo-lined enclosure, and at 18 months old, Smith says, Bao Bao is ready.

“Weaning ultimately starts when we start giving her solid food, but what we’ve noticed lately is that they’re not spending a lot of time together during the day,” Smith says.

That separation put keepers on alert to watch for subtle and not-so-subtle signs it was time to move Bao Bao into her own space.

“The one thing that put this into high gear is that when Bao Bao tried to nurse, her mom would push her away and so we don’t want any of those interactions between them to become aggressive,” she says.

The zoo’s pandas were separated Sunday.

“We were in the Panda House watching them around the clock to make sure everything is OK with them, and then, after watching them for a few days, we realized they were absolutely fine on their own. So now we’re letting them do their own thing,” Smith says.

And since this cold weather provides a natural climate for giant pandas, Smith says, they are outside a lot. However, like commuters, they have learned snow is very different from sleet.

“Bao Bao — her first time in icy conditions, she did not like the ice. She was on the ice for a little bit. Then she went right up her tree and spent the rest of the day up there.”

Away from mom.

The post Bao Bao adjusts to ice, new home away from mom appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — A pepper spray incident at a D.C. charter school resulted in 16 students being taken to a hospital on Tuesday, officials say.

ABC7 reports that a student brought a container of pepper spray to the Cesar Chavez Public Charter School, on Kenyon Street in Northwest, and had it in his desk. Principal Bob McCarty told ABC7 that the student moved some things around in his desk, accidentally discharging the spray.

Firefighters told ABC7 that 16 students were taken to Children’s Hospital for treatment, but McCarty says they were only taken for evaluation. ABC7’s Bob Bell says that a letter home to parents said that some children were having breathing difficulties.

See a report from ABC7:

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Inside NoVA

Manassas police K9 unit to receive ballistic vest Inside NoVA The nonprofit group Vested Interest in K9s, Inc., and Hayward DuPont Staffing, has awarded the Manassas City Police Department's canine unit a fourth ballistic K9 vest. The group awarded the department its first three K9 ballistic vests in 2014. The ...

True: There are other ways to perform common, everyday actions apart from widely accepted methods. False: All of these are brilliant and deserve the description of “mind-blowing.” But though it won’t change everything you ever thought you knew about breakfast, it is fun to see a guy use power tools on a bagel.

In what I must admit I first thought was another one of those videos showing a trick to doing something that I could then repeat and tell everyone I know about, in “You’ve been eating bagels wrong your whole life” on YouTube, a mute bagel lover goes through a pantomime showing the frustrations of having to cut a bagel in two and smear cream cheese on both sides.

Knives can be annoying, I guess, though some people use those bagel slicing things. And what about all that bread that isn’t on the surface and thus, will never feel the blanket of cream cheese upon its crumbs?

That’s where the power drill comes in (which we do not advise using on bagels). And subsequently, a few other steps that I wouldn’t recommend any sane person follow, though it does make for an amusing video break to the day.

The lesson here, I think? Not everything has to have a shortcut — sometimes the way to do something is just the way to do something.

H/T to @_Cooper for the link!

Last fall, an AT&T exec claimed that if his company was allowed to merge with DirecTV it could deploy some sort of wireless data service that delivered around 15Mbps to rural customers, but since then there has been very little talk of what this service would actually look like or how and where it would be deployed. But a dig through regulatory filings on the merger turns up a little more info.

If you read this AT&T filing starting at paragraph 47 (they’re numbered so you don’t have to count), you get a slightly better idea of what the company is planning. Here are the major points:

1. It’s Not Satellite Broadband

For some rural consumers, satellite broadband has been one of the few options for getting online. But satellite service has traditionally been expensive and included restrictive data caps that severely limit its use for data-heavy services like streaming video. There is also a latency issue with satellite that prevents many users from accessing VPNs, so many people who work from home can’t use satellite service.

So the good news is that AT&T’s plan is not just slapping the AT&T brand on a satellite broadband offering. Instead, it plans on deploying what’s known as wireless local loop (WLL) technology, which is basically using dedicated wireless spectrum to carry broadband back and forth between a box on the user’s home and one on a nearby cell tower.

2. AT&T Says It’s Not Just Wireless Hotspots For Your Home

The above description may sound no different than what you’d get from using an LTE hotspot from AT&T (or Verizon, T-Mobile, or Sprint), but the company claims this is “not merely a version of ‘best efforts’ mobile broadband service for the home.”

AT&T promises in the filing that the WLL service will “provide consumers with a robust broadband experience, with speeds and usage comparable, and typically superior to, the best wireline services available in the areas in which the fixed WLL solution will be deployed.”

The last part of that sentence is important, because the company is targeting rural areas, some of which only offer slower DSL service.

3. So How Fast Will It Be?

The filing echoes what AT&T said back in September — speeds of 15-20Mbps, which is more than sufficient for streaming video and most online applications. However, it’s worth noting that this number was given long before the FCC voted to revise its definition of broadband to 25Mbps.

The FCC revision wouldn’t prevent AT&T from marketing the service as broadband, but it means that the deployment of even 20Mbps — which is five times more than the previous FCC broadband definition — would still mean that affected areas are without access to what the Commission considers the standard.

4. Speeds Will Vary By Location

Whether or not you get the full 15-20Mbps depends on how close you are to a WLL tower, with speeds slowing as you reach the edges of coverage areas.

However, AT&T claims that “even customers at the cell edge will experience speeds greater than 10Mbps more than 90% of the time.” But take that with a grain of salt as it’s based on lab testing and not real-world deployment.

5. Speed Will Also Vary Depending On Time Of Day

Even though the WLL service will use a dedicated slice of spectrum, that slice still needs to be shared among the local users. So speeds will be at their best during off-peak hours. Of course, when that peak comes will entirely depend on the web-browsing habits of the people in your immediate area.

6. What About Data Caps?

Here’s one question that AT&T won’t yet put a number on, but which will be incredibly important for people considering the WLL service.

AT&T and other wireless data providers love data caps and tiered pricing plans and most consumers can only afford plans covering 2GB-10GB/month. Meanwhile, even the wireline broadband companies that do employ usage caps usually raise the bar significantly higher — between 250GB and 500GB/month — before penalizing users.

All the filing says on the matter is that AT&T “expects the product to be offered with a usage allowance high enough to readily satisfy most customers’ needs.”

The questions is whether the company is basing that usage level based on wireless customers’ usage (which typically ranges in 2-3GB/month range) or in the typical usage of a home with multiple connected devices that can rack up hundreds of gigabytes each month streaming and downloading movies, TV shows, music, books, and games.

7. How Many People Will Have Access?

AT&T is committing to deploying the WLL service in mostly rural areas in 48 states, covering about 13 million households that could sign up.

Because of congestion concerns, most of the areas served by WLL will have fewer than 250 people per square mile.

According to the filing, about 20% of the 13 million households currently have no access to broadband while another 27% only have one option, usually DSL.

8. Do I Need To Be An AT&T Or DirecTV Customer To Get This?

Obviously the goal here is to give DirecTV a marketable broadband offering for millions of its rural customers, and for AT&T to bundle up Internet/TV/voice services for customers, but there doesn’t appear to be anything in the filing that requires WLL customers also be satellite or cellphone customers of either company beforehand.

As mentioned above, the service isn’t using your satellite dish and it’s using a different swath of wireless spectrum than your phone, so there doesn’t seem to be any reason customers of Dish or Verizon couldn’t also get the WLL service.

AT&T claims in the document that 85% of the areas it intends to target are not currently serviced by its landline phone operation.

9. Can’t AT&T Just Do This On Its Own?

The answer is yes, and the company acknowledges as much in the filing. However, AT&T contends that deploying a WLL network of this scale is too expensive of a risk to take without the additional revenue it’s going to be getting via the DirecTV acquisition. Additionally, being able to offer bundled services makes it easier to market the product to consumers rather than trying to sell standalone broadband access.

10. What We Don’t Know

This item could get lengthy, so let’s just keep it to the big ones:
• Price: While we imagine the WLL service will be priced comparable to what consumers pay for wireline broadband, there’s no way of saying that for certain right now.

• Timeline: AT&T says it has made the commitment, but it’s not going to build out any new network until after the merger is done. Even then, we still have no idea how rapidly the company will be able to deploy the service.

• Data Caps: There is the slight hint mentioned above, but without even vague usage numbers, we have very little to go on.

• Whether others will follow: If a combined AT&T and DirecTV are able to make a profit off the WLL service, you can expect that Dish would once again be courted by several wireless companies looking to offer something similar to that satellite service’s rural customers. It would also behoove Dish to get involved as it would give rural American easier access to over-the-top standalone TV streaming services like Dish’s Sling TV.

During 2014’s recallapoalooza federal regulators revealed that the average completion rate for a vehicle recall was just 75%. While some consumers might not be aware their car has a safety issue, others simply put off the needed repairs. A new bill introduced in the Senate Monday aims to make sure potentially dangerous vehicles aren’t on the road, by requiring fixes be completed before registration renewals are granted. 

The Detroit Free Press reports that Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey and Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal introduced the Repairing Every Car to Avoid Lost Lives (RECALL) Act that would establish a required procedure to quickly complete safety recalls.

“Unrepaired safety defects endanger everyone on America’s roadways,” Senator Blumenthal said in a statement. “Important recall notices can get bogged down with legalese, and busy consumers can miss a lifesaving update. This legislation provides a common-sense avenue to ensure every driver is reminded and encouraged to make the necessary repairs and keep unsafe cars off the roads.”

Under the RECALL Act [PDF], state DMVs and state motor vehicle registration agencies would be required to notify vehicle owners of open safety recalls to ensure they get the issue fixed.

Notification of outstanding recalls would be sent at the same time the DMV sends out a registration renewal reminder. For consumers who just purchased a vehicle, the DMV would send the notification at the same time as the proof of registration documentation.

After receiving the communication, vehicle owners would have to complete the recall remedy before they could renew their registration.

However, consumers would be given a few exceptions to the Act. Examples of exceptions include instances in which the owner wasn’t notified of the recall when the registration renewal reminder came out; the manufacturer lacks the parts or labor to complete the recall; or the vehicle owner demonstrates that he/she had no reasonable opportunity to fulfill the recall. In such cases, the state can grant a temporary registration of up to 60 days.

If states fail to follow the RECALL Act, the Secretary of Transportation is directed to withhold a portion of owed highway safety funds.

“This legislation represents the three R’s of automotive safety: recall, repair, register,” said Senator Markey said in a statement. “We need to inform all vehicle owners of open safety recalls and ensure repairs get made quickly so our roads are kept safe. The RECALL Act will help prevent any more avoidable deaths from unrepaired recalls.”

The Free Press reports that the bill has already received support from several consumer groups including the Center for Auto Safety, the Consumer Federation of America, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and Honda North America, Inc., and even some automakers.

A representative for Honda said that requiring fixes during vehicle registration makes sense.

“We believe the process of vehicle registration is a logical point to require an additional check for any open safety recalls in order to ensure that repairs are completed,” the rep says.

Bill would require recall repairs to be fixed [The Detroit Free Press]

WASHINGTON — The stories are rare, but heartbreaking — animals who go for a pet grooming to get spiffy, but end up injured, or worse.

“People certainly put a lot of trust into their groomers,” says veterinarian Katy Nelson, known as “Dr. Pawz” on WTOP.

Nelson says in the same way a new parent chooses a pediatrician, a pet owner should pay attention and do some research into the individual or business where their dog or cat will get a wash, styling, and nail care.

“You want to make sure your pet is in a safe and healthy environment while they’re at the groomer — it’s not just about a good haircut,” says Nelson.

The calmer the pet, the more likely the grooming session will go well, she says.

“This needs to be something that’s not a terribly scary process for them every time you bring them in, says Nelson.

Pet owners should tell groomers if they feel their pet will be nervous. One potential risk to safety is a device designed to keep animals in place during grooming.

“A lot of grooming facilities use these tables that have a pole that goes up and has a little slip leash on there to hold the pet in place,” says Nelson. “This works great for the majority of animals — most of the dogs and cats that are used to it, they know they need to sit still.”

For a really nervous animal, “with these leashes going over their necks, sometimes they can pull and jerk, and they can get too tight,” says Nelson. “It’s the groomer’s responsibility to make sure the pet is being safely handled.”

When a pet is too anxious to sit quietly, Nelson says it may be necessary to have another person hold the animal during the grooming.

“It is their responsibility to hold the pet appropriately, that the pet is not choking himself or herself, and that may actually require a second set of hands,” she says.

Choosing a safe groomer

“There’s no actual requirement for anyone to call themselves ‘a groomer,'” says Nelson.

Yet, there are licensing and certifications that might provide guidance to a pet owner in search of a groomer.

Licensing for a pet groomer is regulated by states. Most licensing requirements apply to facilities, including room size, grooming and drying equipment, and exercise areas.

“There is a National Dog Groomers Association of America,” says Nelson,  which offers a Registered or Certified Groomer locator, to find professionals near you.

“You may want to pick out someone who actually has gone through some training and has a certification, so that you know who you’re going with is not only going to give your dog a good groom, but also they’ve put some time and effort into getting certified,” says Nelson.

In chain stores, while the facility is licensed, each company is responsible for its own in-house training programs for groomers.

At the Petsmart Academy, groomers get 400 hours of training in a 12-week course.

A Petco, groomers go through an apprentice program to become a Professional Pet Stylist.

Nelson good groomers are interested in the overall health of a pet.

If a groomer doesn’t ask for proof of your pet’s vaccinations, “you may want to move on and find a place that is paying attention,” says Nelson.

“You want your pet to be in the safest, healthiest environment possible.”

In the event a pet is injured, experts suggest reporting the incident to the local animal control agency, which is usually aligned with law enforcement. When incidents don’t involve animal injury, the pet owner might want to contact the Better Business Bureau.

The post Choose pet groomer with safety in mind appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — Many people know they should work out more for a healthier, longer life. Now, doctors are turning to exercise equipment to predict just how long that life will be.

In a discovery made by cardiologists at Johns Hopkins University, doctors say they can predict with better accuracy how long patients will live based on gender, age and how well they fare on a treadmill.

Doctors say it comes down to how your body responds to increasing speed and incline on a treadmill.

“We usually base predictions of survival on the absence or presence of the disease state,” says ABC News’ Senior Medical Contributor Dr. Jennifer Ashton.

But this test, she says, is unique because it allows doctors to compare men or women of the same age. And the findings are easier to translate to the patient.

“What’s new here is, there’s a fancy equation for doctors to compare the survival of a 50-year-old woman and another 50-year-old woman,” Ashton says.

She says that is relevant because doctors can hopefully use it to motivate behavioral change.

The study is based on 58,000 stress tests looking primarily at patients’ heart rate and metabolism.

The post Why doctors say treadmills can determine how long we’ll live appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — The case of the two Maryland “free-range parents” accused of child neglect for letting their 10- and 6-year-old children walk home by themselves from a park a mile away has reached an uncertain conclusion.

Danielle and Alexander Meitiv were found responsible for “unsubstantiated” child neglect, The Washington Post reports. That means that Montgomery County Child Protective Services will keep a file on them for at least five years.

While being responsible for something that is unsubstantiated sounds like a contradiction, Paula Tolson, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Human Resources, told the Post that it’s one of three possible findings in such a case. The others are ruled out or indicated.

She told the Post that if CPS received another report of the Meitiv children walking around unsupervised, they’d get involved if someone complained about the kids’ safety. “If we get a call from law enforcement or from a citizen, we are required to investigate,” she said. “Our goal is the safety of children, always.”

The case began Dec. 20 of last year, when someone called the police after they saw Rafi, 10, and Dvora, 6, walking by themselves in Silver Spring. Their parents said they allowed them to walk home from Woodside Park because they could handle the journey.

The Meitivs believe that their parenting philosophy gives children more independence. The case has raised arguments nationwide about the twin extremes of free-range and “helicopter” parenting.

Danielle Meitiv was upset by the finding. The Post reports that she says the children played by themselves at a nearby park on Mon day during the snow day.

The post Md. ‘free-range parents’ responsible for ‘unsubstantiated’ child neglect appeared first on WTOP.

Inside NoVA

Manassas-area man charged for filming sex acts with animals Inside NoVA Joseph Michael Amley, 22, of the 11200 block of Chatterly Loop in Manassas, was arrested on Jan. 29 and charged with attempted crimes against nature-cruelty to animals, use of a computer to distribute obscene materials and distribution of obscene ... and more »

Lumber Liquidators is one of those stores that does exactly what it sounds like: they sell wood and other building supplies at a discount. A report that aired this weekend on the CBS program 60 Minutes shared some scary findings from independent lab tests performed on samples of flooring purchased from the chain. The company counters that these tests are inaccurate, and that the people behind these allegations aren’t out to protect consumers.

Lots of everyday objects give off formaldehyde, and it’s even the product of metabolic processes in our own bodies. Occasional exposure while dissecting a frog in school or getting your nails done isn’t a health concern, but prolonged exposure to a lot of formaldehyde can be dangerous. “I would say long-term exposure at that level would be risky because it would increase the risk for chronic respiratory irritation, change in a person’s lung function, increased risk of asthma,” one expert on environmental toxins interviewed by CBS news explained. While it wouldn’t necessarily affect everyone in a residence, children are more susceptible to problems than adults.

It’s the amount of formaldehyde that the flooring allegedly gives off that is alarming, the men campaigning against Lumber Liquidators told CBS. (Warning: auto-play video) In one set of tests, the lab simply assumed that their equipment was broken, since the formaldehyde levels were higher than their equipment could measure. Some samples emitted twenty times above the legal limit for formaldehyde in building materials in California.

It just so happens that the men leading this campaign against Lumber Liquidators are an environmental activist and a lawyer. They’re working on behalf of homeowners concerned about potentially toxic flooring, sure, but they also happen to have the financial backing of investors who believe the stock price for Lumber Liquidators is too high compared to the actual value of the company, and they’re shorting it. That means that people who are betting on the company to do worse are behind some of the current accusations against the company. “These attacks are driven by a small group of short-selling investors who are working together,” the company said in a statement.

However, there’s also the U.S. Department of Justice, which may be filing criminal charges against the company for selling tropical hardwoods that may have been harvested illegally.

Lumber Liquidators linked to health and safety violations [CBS News]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens waived cornerback Victor Hampton after his weekend arrest in Charlotte on a charge of driving while impaired and speeding.

Ravens spokesman Chad Steele said the team waived Hampton on Monday.

North Carolina Highway Patrol Master Trooper John Burgin said Hampton was driving 100 mph in a 55-mph zone on Interstate 77 early Saturday. Hampton also was charged with reckless driving and having an open container of alcohol in his car.

Burgin said Hampton had a blood alcohol level of 0.10 percent, above North Carolina’s legal limit of 0.08. Burgin said two passengers were charged with carrying concealed handguns and possessing open alcohol containers.

Steele said the 22-year-old former South Carolina defensive back was signed to a reserve contract in January and had not played for the Ravens.

The post Ravens cornerback Victor Hampton arrested, cut by team appeared first on WTOP.

TOANO, Va. (AP) — Lumber Liquidators is refuting a “60 Minutes” report that raised health concerns about some of its laminate flooring products and pushed its stock price to its lowest level in more than two years.

In a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Lumber Liquidators said all of its laminate flooring meets the safety standards set by regulators throughout the U.S. The defense came the day after “60 Minutes” aired findings that some of Lumber Liquidators’ flooring made in China had high levels of formaldehyde, a carcinogen.

The tests by three certified labs concluded the amounts of formaldehyde failed to meet California’s emissions standards.

Lumber Liquidators’ stock plunged $13.03, or 25 percent, to close at $38.83. Earlier in the session, the shares fell to $38.19, the lowest since July 2012.

The Toano, Virginia, company asserted that the doubts being raised by its products are being fueled by “short sellers” — investors that make money by placing bets that specific stocks will drop in value.

The “60 Minutes” report included interviews with Denny Larson, executive director of nonprofit group Global Community Monitor, and environmental attorney Richard Drury. Larson and Drury purchased boxes of laminate flooring from several retailers with stores in California, including Lumber Liquidators. They sent the products to the labs for testing.

While Lumber Liquidators’ flooring made in the U.S. met California’s emissions standards, every sample manufactured in China failed.

Lumber Liquidators said random testing of its six laminate flooring suppliers in China determined the products were “safe and compliant.”

“We stand by every single plank of wood and laminate we sell all around the country,” the company said in its SEC filing.

Lumber Liquidators has 354 stores in the U.S. and Canada, including 37 in California. The company earned $63 million on sales of $1.05 billion last year.

The “60 Minutes” report is the second damaging blow to Lumber Liquidators in less than week.

In a separate SEC filing last Wednesday, the company disclosed the U.S. Justice Department may seek criminal charges against it under the Lacey Act, which is a U.S. law that includes a ban on illegally sourced wood products.

Lumber Liquidators’ stock has plummeted by 44 percent since last Wednesday’s filing.

The post Lumber Liquidators stands behind products as stock plunges appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — This cute “pocket pit” mix is one of WARL’s longest tenured residents, and she can’t wait to find her new forever home.

Much smaller than a normal pit bull mix, this little girl is shy and — true to her name — very sweet.  She loves to walk, but finds squirrels and cats very interesting — so walkers must be alert!

Originally found as a D.C. stray, Sweet & Low came to WARL from another local shelter, so she really wants to have a permanent place to call home.  She can be selective with dogs, but loves people.

Want to bring a beautiful sweet dog into you home and give her a second chance?  Come visit Sweet & Low at WARL today.

The post Pet of the Week: Sweet & Low appeared first on WTOP.

Do you enjoy drinking milk, but think that it simply isn’t green or sugary enough? Following in the deeply disturbing footsteps of orange milk and jellybean milk comes “mint vanilla” flavored milk from TruMoo, a brand that started as a low-fat version of chocolate milk. Why mint? The milk is green, for St. Patrick’s Day, so it’s mint-flavored. It’s like a melted Shamrock Shake.

Mint-flavored holiday milk isn’t an invention of Dean Foods, maker of TruMoo. It’s not even new The green stuff was a childhood staple for me every spring from the local dairy, and they started this hot trend in 1976. They make a fine pairing with Thin Mints, and at least make a little bit more sense than Creamsicle milk to celebrate Halloween.

It’s that time of year again — the day IHOP shovels stacks of free pancakes onto plates across America, all in the name of charity. That day will be tomorrow morning, March 3, so mark your calendars and tell yourself not to forget.

This marks the 10th year in a row that the breakfast chain has slung free buttermilk stacks in celebration of National Pancake Day, and to benefit charity.

Hungry customers can head to their local IHOP for a free stack of pancakes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and while the pancakes are free, IHOP is encouraging people to donate at least what they might normally pay for them — $5 — to their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.

Once you’ve done that, you do end up getting free pancakes in essence, with a coupon worth $5 off their next IHOP visit.

It seems Costco is not one to sit around pining for old flames very long, as the shopping club announced today that it’s rebounding from the end of its relationship with American Express with a new partnership with Citigroup and Visa.

Costco has dubbed the two companies as its new credit partners starting in April of next year, reports the Wall Street Journal. Previously, only AmEx credit cards and debit cards were accepted at the wholesale retailer.

This means only Citi will be able to issue Costco co-branded credit cards, and it will make Visa the exclusive credit-card network for Costco’s stores. While it’s clearly a big win for Visa and Citi, Costco hasn’t revealed any financial terms of the deal.

It would seem that whatever the agreement involves, it’s more favorable for Costco than the arrangement it had with AmEx: Costco had been trying to come to new terms in its AmEx deal, but the two sides couldn’t reach a mutually beneficial decision, the company said. Instead, Costco said that ending its relationship with AmEx was about saving money for customers.

As of March 31, 2016, AmEx Costco-branded credit cards will be useless, giving customers just over a year to make the switch — if they want to. Customers can still use debit cards from either Visa or MasterCard, as well as Costco cash cards, which can be purchased online.

Costco Names Citi, Visa as New Credit Partners [Wall Street Journal]

Ice and fog cover the region for the Monday morning commute. View photos of the weather and submit your own on Twitter using #WTOP.

The post Photos: Ice, fog cover D.C. area appeared first on WTOP.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey has confirmed a small earthquake overnight about 24 miles west of the capital of Virginia.

The USGS reported on its website that the quake happened around 3:50 a.m. Thursday and had a magnitude of 2.5. It was centered near Goochland, outside of Richmond.

Goochland County Sheriff James Agnew says there were no reports of damage or injuries in the county.

The post USGS confirms small earthquake overnight near Richmond appeared first on WTOP.

Inside NoVA

Prince William police Inside NoVA Chris Leroy Downs Jr., 40, of Manassas, is wanted for one count of malicious wounding, one count of attempted malicious wounding and two counts of assault & battery. mugshot Doron Fields.jpg. Prince William police ...