pileofcrapola

WASHINGTON — Virginia’s attorney general has received an award for the commonwealth’s efforts to curb animal abuse, and he’s using the occasion to draw attention to a new unit he created for the purpose.

The office of Attorney General Mark Herring received the Humane Law Enforcement Award for its role in shutting down and successfully prosecuting a cockfighting ring in Wise County, Virginia, and Kentucky last year.

Last month, Herring’s office says, he announced the creation of the nation’s first Animal Law Unit, to assist local and state law enforcement with efforts to combat animal abuse and fighting rings.

“Our office doesn’t have any additional authority to investigate and prosecute animal cruelty and animal crimes,” Herring says.

But it does train law enforcement and local animal cruelty agents across the state, and guide them in how to go after animal-abuse cases.

“We’re going to make sure that prosecutors and law enforcement around the state know that we’re here to assist,” Herring says.

WTOP’s Kathy Stewart contributed to this report.

The post Herring touts nation’s first Animal Law Unit appeared first on WTOP.

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BEDFORD, Va. (AP) — A sex offender told investigators he left a Maryland shopping mall with two young sisters who disappeared in 1975 and later saw his uncle sexually assaulting one of the girls, according to newly unsealed police affidavits.

Authorities have been searching for the remains of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katharine Lyon on a remote mountain in Bedford County, Virginia, some 200 miles from their Montgomery County, Maryland, home, since September. A Bedford County grand jury also is investigating.

The Washington Post (http://wapo.st/19Qqopa) reported Saturday that Montgomery County police, citing the ongoing investigation, declined to comment on the affidavits or how credible they find 58-year-old Lloyd Welch’s recent statements. Police have named Welch and his uncle, 69-year-old Richard Welch, “persons of interest” in the case, but neither has been charged.

In an earlier letter to the newspaper, Lloyd Welch said he had nothing to do with the girls’ disappearance. Richard Welch has declined to comment.

“Our department and our partners in Virginia remain committed to determining what happened to Katherine and Sheila Lyon,” Montgomery Police Chief Tom Manger said Friday. “We believe that there are people, including family members of Dick and Lloyd Welch, who have information that would further this investigation.”

Richard Welch’s wife, Patricia, was charged with perjury after testifying before the grand jury in December.

The Lyon sisters walked to the mall in Wheaton on March 25, 1975, and never came home. A massive search turned up nothing.

Over four decades, police have pursued numerous leads and periodically identified potential suspects. But they never charged anyone.

The affidavits do not say whether any incriminating evidence has been found on Taylors Mountain in Virginia. Investigators have found bones on the property, according to court papers, but that may not mean much because the land contains an old cemetery with more than 30 unmarked graves. At one point during the search, detectives wrote, a dog trained to sniff decomposition “alerted” to areas away from the cemetery.

The filings detail for the first time how Lloyd Welch surfaced in the case. A week after the girls vanished the then-18-year-old Welch went to Wheaton Plaza and told a security guard that he had seen the sisters leave with a man in a car. Police gave him a polygraph test which showed he was lying, according to the affidavits, which did not say whether authorities continued to look into Welch.

The detectives on the case in 2013 set out to learn more about Welch, who had been arrested in 1977 in Montgomery in a burglary case. His mug shot from that arrest strongly resembled a sketch in the Lyon sisters case that had been drawn based on a witness’s description of a man at Wheaton Plaza who was staring at the girls and following them, according to the affidavits.

Investigators also found that Welch had worked as a carnival-ride operator, traveling across the country. In 1994, he had pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl in South Carolina. In 1998, he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl in Delaware and was sentenced to three decades in prison. The detectives went to Delaware, according to the affidavits, and interviewed Welch several times in prison.

“During these interviews, Lloyd Welch has admitted he left Wheaton Plaza in a vehicle with the Lyon sisters on the day they disappeared,” according to the affidavits, written by Montgomery Detective Mark Janney and Detectives R.D. Baldwin and S.O. Smith of the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office.

The affidavits say Lloyd Welch told police Richard Welch was involved in kidnapping the girls. Lloyd Welch said he was dropped off near his home, and the next day he went to Richard Welch’s home where he saw the uncle sexually abusing one of the sisters. He said he left and never saw the girls again.

The post Affidavit: Man admits leaving mall with missing Md. sisters appeared first on WTOP.

Activist Teaches Feminist Animal Rights Course At George Mason University Daily Caller Professor Paul C. Gorski, who believes meat producers perpetuate racism and that a powerful dairy lobby is responsible for the idea that milk promotes health, will be teaching a course about “mass food production, mass clothing production ...

We all want to work smarter, but are we getting ahead or just spinning our wheels? You might hear someone say they work best under pressure, for example, but that might be an empty claim to justify procrastination. Here are some common productivity lies that we tell ourselves that hinder more than help our work.

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If you're looking for a good read, this graphic plots all of fiction's main genres and some of the best books in each.

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WASHINGTON — For many people, the only souvenir of time spent in tiny Hopewell, Virginia is a paper speeding ticket.

The independent city, with a 2010 population of 22,591 is at the center of AAA’s latest effort to limit what the not-for-profit auto club calls “policing for profit,” with targeted speed enforcement.

“There are some communities in Virginia that use money from police tickets to make up a major part of their town’s finances,” says Lon Anderson, director of public and government relations for AAA Mid-Atlantic, which serves more than 3.4 million members from New Jersey to Virginia.

The most egregious example is a two-mile stretch of interstate highway that runs along the western side of the 10.8 square mile town.

“We dubbed the part of I-295 that runs through Hopewell a ‘million dollar mile,’ because they make almost 2 million dollars a year,” from revenue raised by speed traps, says Anderson.

Most law enforcement agencies say targeted speed enforcement is intended to induce drivers to slow down in areas where road design, volume, and conditions would preclude faster driving.

AAA says Hopewell’s enforcement program is conducted by 11 Sheriff’s deputies who work 14 hour shifts on the two-mile stretch of highway.

“The safety experts tell us there is nothing on that two miles of 295 to warrant such intense police scrutiny,” says Anderson.

Chief Deputy Steve Kephart of the Hopewell Sheriff’s Office told WTOP the agency would not be available for comment.

A budget amendment now before lawmakers in Virginia seeks to limit the amount of money a jurisdiction can keep from programs like the one in Hopewell.

Anderson says AAA has sent emails to 200,000 Virginia members which includes a link to send emails to Virginia lawmakers — in particular to budget conferees — “to let them know policing for profit shouldn’t be happening, and to please shut it down.

Anderson says the group “in no way condones speeding, but on the other hand, we don’t believe police should be used as a revenue stream.”

AAA has had “some good success” in previous years’ attempts to curtail the speed traps through Virginia’s budget process.

“The formulas that we used didn’t take enough money away from Hopewell to shut it down, unfortunately,” says Anderson. “But this year I think we’re a little bit more optimistic — we’ve got budget language addressing this issue in both house and senate versions, so it’s going to a budget conference.

Anderson says he believes lawmakers this year see what’s happening in Hopewell for what it is.

“There’s not a big safety issue on this part of 295, it’s a revenue issue,” says Anderson.

The post Is it time to shut down Virginia speed-trap towns? appeared first on WTOP.

ROCKVILLE, Md. — The cold isn’t just dangerous for you; it can also be bad news for your home. Insurance companies are expecting an uptick in cold-weather claims from damage brought on by Mother Nature, but a homeowner’s insurance policy doesn’t cover everything.

Damage from a frozen or burst water pipe is covered. In addition to repairs made to the home, Rick Stein, of the Rick Stein Insurance Agency in Rockville, Maryland, says you can file a claim for the cost associated with removing mold caused by the break.

Insurance companies expect burst pipes to be the most common problem during the frigid weather.

“It’s not so much snow; it’s cold, so they’re expecting burst pipes,” Stein said.

Homeowner’s insurance also covers any water damage caused by an ice buildup on the roof.

Some things that won’t be covered, though, include damage caused by melting snow seeping into the home through the foundation. Also, a homeowner can’t file a claim for damage if the house is vacant.

The post What cold-related house damage does your insurance cover? You may be surprised appeared first on WTOP.

Last year the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began an initiative urging credit card issues to provide consumers with free credit scores on their monthly bills. Since then, a number of financial institutions have begun providing the information, leading more than 50 million consumers to have free and regular access to their scores.

The CFPB reported today that while more than a dozen major credit card issuers now provide free access to credit scores, a new study indicates that many consumers still have questions and confusion over the number and its importance.

According to the CFPB [PDF], consumers reported being confused and frustrated about how to check credit reports and scores, what information these include, and how to improve them.

Additionally, consumers said that they often lack information to take action to improve their credit histories.

“Consumers reported that they often do not feel empowered to take action to improve their credit histories and that they rarely apply credit information in their daily lives, such as using their credit reports and scores to negotiate better credit terms,” writes the CFPB.

The report suggests that credit reporting companies could offer more assistance to consumers, making it easier for to access and interpret their reports.

Officials with the CFPB have long maintained that regularly available credit scores may prompt consumers to review their credit standing and pull their free annual report.

“Consumers’ credit information is the foundation of their financial lives,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a statement.

The CFPB says that research shows that when consumers become familiar with their credit reports, their credit scores often improve.

Credit scores are used by bankers, lenders, and others to determine a consumers’ creditworthiness and the rates they will pay for services. In the past, consumers have had to pay for credit scores or sign up for trial offers that may have hidden costs.

CFPB Reports That More Than 50 Million Credit Card Consumers Have Access to Free Credit Scores [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau]

While the recent McDonald’s employee meltdown had a certain nihilistic joy to it, with the fired worker made a calamitous exit but in a way that didn’t really put anyone at risk, this footage from a Little Caesars here in Philadelphia is downright terrifying as an angry customer attempts to attack an employee with everything he can get his hands on.

Philly police have posted the above video of an incident that occurred on Valentine’s Day. There’s no audio, so we have no idea what started the dispute, but you can see the customer — helpfully identified in the clip with a huge arrow that reads “Offender” — take a sudden swing at a man behind the counter.

He then picks up what appears to be the credit card point-of-sale terminal and tosses it at the man before making a few attempts to lunge across the counter.

Two women enter and try to pull the suspect away from the scene but he shrugs them off. That’s when things get even more violent, as the customer pushes a register off the counter and into the arms of the employee.

He then uses the machine’s tether to yank it free from the worker — only to throw it right back in his face.

Then goes the large counter display case along with a bunch of boxes, followed by what appears to be a small box of pamphlets or fliers.

Finally, he crosses over to the one remaining register terminal and gives that a shove.

The most amazing part is that there are two people sitting stoically in the Little Caesars this whole time. Even when the customer gets in their face while he exits, these onlookers don’t appear fazed.

[via Philly.com]

The co-owner of a now defunct California slaughterhouse at the center of a February 2014 recall that involved 8.7 million pounds of beef found “unfit for human food” has pleaded guilty in the federal case, acknowledging that he processed cancerous cattle.

He’s the last defendant of four in the case against Rancho Feeding Corp. to plead guilty after federal prosecutors indicted him, another owner and two employees of the company last August. At that time, prosecutors said one of the methods the owners used for tricking food safety inspectors was to switch out unhealthy, cancer riddled cattle heads with healthy ones while the inspectors were at lunch.

According to the Associated Press, federal prosecutors said the co-owner acknowledged distributing adulterated, misbranded and uninspected meat.

Prosecutors said that he told employees at the slaughterhouse to process cattle that U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture veterinarians had rejected for having cancerous eyes.

The charge carries a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine and a $100 special assessment, reports KQED News. He’s scheduled to be sentenced July 1.

Slaughterhouse owner pleads guilty in tainted beef case [Associated Press]
Final Defendant Pleads Guilty in Petaluma Slaughterhouse Case [KQED]

Anyone who’s watched a syndicated TV show on basic cable is already familiar with some methods of trimming the fat off of shows — shorter opening credits, sped-up closing credits that may overlap on-screen ads or the next show — but what you may not have noticed is that some cable networks are actually speeding up shows and movies to squeeze in more commercials.

This is according to the Wall Street Journal, which reports that TBS and others are using compression technology to play content back at a slightly faster clip in order to get a few more seconds of air time for ads.

Reruns of Seinfeld, Friends, and other shows are getting the rapid playback treatment on top pay-TV networks like TNT and TBS, and most people are none the wiser. And even movie classics are being sped up, as one expert on The Wizard of Oz noticed during a recent airing on TBS.

“Their voices were raised a notch,” he tells the Journal about the already high-pitched Munchkin characters in the 1939 film.

Some cable channels have gotten so edit- and compression-happy that they can now fit in more than 20 minutes of ads each hour, several minutes more than what you’ll find on most prime-time network broadcasts.

“It is a way to keep the revenue from going down as much as the ratings,” one pay-TV exec explains to the Journal. “The only way we can do it is to double down and stretch the unit load a little more.”

While you might assume that TV advertisers would be happy with more opportunities for running their commercials, not everyone in the ad business is thrilled about all this cramming.

“They are trying to deal with a problem in a way that is making the problem bigger,” says the president of national broadcast at media buyer Omnicom Media Group.

And the content producers who supply these shows and movies the cable channels are also concerned about the way things are heading.

“It has gotten completely out of control,” the head of distribution for one major TV studio tells the Journal. “I’m concerned when you look at the performance being diminished and hurt by their running the shows that way.”

This YouTube clip from 2013 shows the speed difference between an original copy of a Seinfeld episode and a TBS rerun. According to the person who posted it, the increase in playback speed would allow for two additional minutes of commercials in a single half-hour episode:

WASHINGTON — Unless you have an insulated mug you’ve probably noticed that your morning coffee hasn’t been staying as piping hot, with our recent frigid temperatures.

That got us to thinking in the Glass Enclosed Nerve Center — which morning drink would freeze most quickly if left outside?

Previous research has found that in certain conditions hot water can freeze faster than cold water, thanks to what’s been dubbed  the “Mpemba effect,” named after the Tanzanian high school student Erasto Mpemba, who first observed it, according to the LiveScience website.

This morning, we’ll simultaneously put mugs of chilled apple juice, hot black coffee, room temperature water, and cold 2-percent milk outside, and document what happens in the photo gallery.

What are your predictions? Add your comments below, or tweet them with #wtop.

 

The post Which drink freezes faster in frigid temps? appeared first on WTOP.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Gov. Terry McAuliffe is ordering the Virginia flag be flown at half-staff over the state Capitol in honor of World War II veteran Glenwood Elmo Hankins.

McAuliffe’s office says the flag shall be lowered at sunrise on Thursday and remain at half-staff until sunset. Local, state and federal buildings in Martinsville also are being encouraged to fly the flag at half-staff.

According to an obituary on the Collins-McKee-Stone Funeral Home website, the Pittsylvania County native died Feb. 7 at age 92.

After graduating from Martinsville High School in 1940, Hankins enlisted in the Virginia National Guard. During World War II he was sent to England and later took part in the D-Day landings in Normandy.

Glenwood was awarded the Purple Heart and also received the Bronze Star.

The post Va. flags ordered lowered to honor World War II vet appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — It looks like we have to repeat it once more: Animals need to be brought in during the kind of severe cold we’ve been having lately.

Last week, the Fairfax County police took in a kitten that had spent a night on a ledge at the Neiman Marcus in the Tyson’s Corner Mall. They got the call at about 2 p.m. Friday; at first, the kitten was too afraid to come to the Animal Control officers who responded.

They then set a humane trap, baited with food. It worked — to a point. The kitten went into the trap, but was too light to trigger the trap door.

The officers closed the trap themselves and took the kitten to the shelter.

They remind everyone that you need to not only keep pets indoors and warm, but give them plenty of food and water: The cold depletes their energy.

Those are the usual bits of advice, but the police add that you should wipe your pet’s paws with a damp towel when they come back inside, to get rid of salt and chemicals; bang on your car hood before starting it, because an animal may have taken refuge under your hood to get warmth from your engine; and be sure to wipe up any antifreeze you may spill — it tastes sweet to animals but is poisonous.

And if you see an animal that’s been left out in the cold for a long time in Fairfax County, make note of the time, date and precise location and call Animal Control at 703-691-2131.

The post In Fairfax County, another lesson on keeping animals indoors appeared first on WTOP.

Prince William County crime report Washington Post These were among incidents reported by Prince William County police. For information, call 703-792-7245. BRISTOW AREA. THEFTS/BREAK-INS. Medway Church Loop, 11800 block, noon Feb. 5 to 4:15 p.m. Feb. 6. An attempt was made to enter a ... and more »

Nearly four months ago, when we first got hints that McDonald’s was going to be making a Super Bowl-centered campaign about how “lovin’ is better than hatin'” and other folksiness, we predicted it wouldn’t exactly be well received by consumers. And when it finally rolled out the “Pay with lovin'” campaign, our opinion didn’t really change. Now that this brief, G-droppin’ period has passed, it doesn’t look like people have anymore love for McDonald’s than they did a few months ago.

The folks at YouGov BrandIndex have been tracking consumers’ attitudes toward the fast food giant during this campaign — which was supposed to improve McDonald’s public image by occasionally allowing random customers to pay with hugs and other nonsense — and the results were probably what you expect.

On the plus side, there were small increases in the number of people talking about McDonald’s (from 26% to 29%) and those considering getting their next fast food meal from the eatery (from 36% to 39%). But the former may simply be attributed to the nearly omnipresent ads while at least some of the increased interest in buying McDonald’s had to be from people hoping to score a free meal as part of the promotion.

But these upticks don’t mean much unless McDonald’s can shift its public image in the long run, and its BrandIndex scores aren’t a good omen.

The Index’s Buzz score ranges from -100 to 100, with a 0 score being neutral. And in the two weeks following the Super Bowl, McDonald’s score varied between -1 and 3, indicating no real change in consumers’ attitudes, in spite of the massive marketing campaign and one of the most talked-about Super Bowl ads.

Of course, this whole campaign was already in place when McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson stepped down only days before the Super Bowl. So the company may be looking at the ineffectiveness of all the huggin’ and lovin’ as a relic of the former leadership.

[via BurgerBusiness.com]

BALTIMORE (AP) — Glass jars stuffed with newspapers and a metal plate memorializing Baltimore’s Washington Monument were found when officials opened the 200-year-old cornerstone of the structure.

Lance Humphries, chairman of restoration committee of Mount Vernon Place Conservancy, said Wednesday that historic accounts of what was in the cornerstone mention newspapers, coins and a bottle containing a likeness of George Washington.

But upon opening the cornerstone Tuesday night, Humphries says there was no sign of the first president’s likeness. There were three jars, two of them 11 inches tall and 6 inches wide, which held newspapers. Humphries says the cornerstone also contains a copper plate saying the date is July 4, 1815.

Curators from the Walters Museum will determine the safest way to remove the items and examine them.

The post Jars found in Baltimore’s Washington Monument time capsule appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — Since Friday, the Washington Humane Society has responded to dozens of reports of animals left out in the cold, most of them dogs.

“It’s been pretty busy,” Daniel D’Eramo, senior humane law enforcement officer with the Washington Humane Society, tells WTOP. “A lot of calls that we’re getting in are from people just passing through a neighborhood, in an area for whatever reason, seeing an animal out.”

He says some people don’t understand how vulnerable their pets can be in the cold.

“There’s a disconnect there. [People think] ‘They’re a dog; they’re like a wolf — they have a fur coat.’ Most dogs really aren’t as well equipped to handle the cold as people think they are. A lot of short-hair breeds, especially pit bulls that we have a lot of in this city — yeah, they have a fur coat, but it’s not a very thick fur coat.”

When the society gets a report of a dog that might be in danger in the cold, an investigator goes to the home and tries to talk to the owner. In extreme cases, they take custody of the pooch. D’Eramo says they came close to doing that in two recent cases in D.C. — one involved a pit bull in Northwest; the other, a German shepherd in Northeast. Thankfully, their owners took action first.

With temperatures expected to head to the single digits this week, he repeats: If you see a pet left outside for a while, be sure to call and report it.

“If it’s too cold for you, it’s too cold for them,” says D’Eramo.

In the District you can report animal emergencies by calling D.C. Animal Control at 202-576-6664 or the Washington Humane Society at 202-723-5730.

In Montgomery County, you can call the Animal Services Division at 301-279-8000.

In Prince George’s County, call the Animal Management Division at 301-780-7200.

In Fairfax County, call Animal Control at 703-691-2131.

In Alexandria, call the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria at 703-746-4774.

In Arlington, call the Animal Welfare League of Arlington at 703-931-9241.

The post Don’t let the fur fool you: Pets feel the cold just as much as you do appeared first on WTOP.

Patch.com

Top Five Curbside Trash Tips for Bad Weather Patch.com Trash collection cancelled for Tuesday. Manassas Public Works offers trash tips in inclement weather conditions. By Greg Hambrick (Patch Staff) February 17, 2015 at 7:06am. Top Five Curbside Trash Tips for Bad Weather. Release, City of Manassas: Windy ...

When I was working at the library in college, every student had to tell me his/her student ID number to check out a book, and with very few exceptions that number was also the student’s Social Security number. Oh boy, the profitable things I could have done if I’d been enterprisingly evil.

Social Security data is in the news a lot lately after potentially millions of SSNs were stolen in the recent Anthem insurance data breach, and the former governor of Florida released e-mails containing folks personal information, including their Socials.

This story on Credit.com runs down the most significant ways in which an ID thief can ruin your life with just those 9 digits that you will put on countless documents and forms before you even get to the point of claiming Social Security benefits… which an ID thief can steal if they have access to your SSN.

1. Ruin Your Credit

Having someone’s SSN is often the key to successfully applying for credit or loans in that person’s name. Of course, an ID thief is probably not borrowing your identity so that he or she can live a financially responsible existence under a different name. More likely, that thief intends to max out every line of credit or take out loans with no intention of repaying a dime.

And where does all this bad credit end up? On your credit report because it’s all tied to your SSN.

2. Steal Your Tax Refund

There’s a reason Ohio has started requiring that some taxpayers take a “quiz” on personal information before they get their refunds — because every year billions of dollars in tax refunds are being claimed by ID thieves who hijack legitimate taxpayers’ Social Security numbers.

3. Give You A Criminal Record

When I was a kid, a friend of the family was almost arrested because he had several outstanding warrants in his name. Except he didn’t do anything; it was his lookalike brother who never carried photo and used his sibling’s name and SSN every time he got into a jam.

And if one or more ID thieves are out there running up traffic tickets or minor charges all over the place in your name, it can take years to prove to the various law enforcement agencies that you’re not the one they’re looking for.

[via credit.com]

Not content to let seasoned dust fall only on French fries in California, McDonald’s has now expanded its test of Shakin’ Flavors to its chicken McNuggets in some Nevada locations as well. Again, this just sounds like a great big salty mess waiting to get all over our hands.

BurgerBusiness.com reports that the flavor-in-a-bag idea is debuting at Northern Nevada McDonald’s locations, with the same seasoning varieties available both nuggets and fries that it had test earlier in California: zesty ranch, chipotle BBQ and garlic parmesan.

While it’s surely interesting to experiment with new flavors for some old offerings, as we’ve pointed out in the past, giving customers a packet of dry seasoning meant to be dumped in a thin, paper McDonald’s bag is only one small tear away from an annoying mess, or [gasp!] the loss of a nugget/fry.

Seasoning is free though, so at least it’d be a free annoying mess.

McDonald’s Takes Shaker Idea to McNuggets [BurgerBusiness.com]

A 94-year-old Piggly Wiggly customer managed to turn the store’s parking lot into his own personal bumper cars attraction, after he said he confused the gas pedal for the brake and panicked, hitting about 10 cars in the process.

The elderly Wisconsin man’s driving endeavors were caught on surveillance tape from the grocery store, reports WTMJ 4 News, but police say he won’t be charged after ramming into several vehicles.

He told officers on the scene that he’d gotten confused and panicked while backing out of a spot.

“It could have been a heck of a lot worse,” the police chief told the station, adding, “We were very, very fortunate that there was no pedestrians walking out with their groceries,” He added.

A man whose truck was hit ran after the driver with his fiancee to try and help him get control of his vehicle.

“I’m slamming on the window, just pounding on it saying stop your car, stop your car,” he said.

Though police likely won’t charge the man, the chief said the Department of Motor Vehicles is looking into possibly retesting him for his drivers license.

Couple able to stop elderly man who hit nine cars in Piggly Wiggly parking lot [WTMJ 4]

While the central New York city of Ithaca might be home to lovely Cornell University and the fictional University of Ithaca from the classic Breckin Meyer comedy Road Trip, it — like many places north of 35th parallel this week — is unpleasantly, bone-chillingly cold. But at least the folks at the Ithaca Visitors Bureau have a good sense of humor about the weather.

A trip to the Visit Ithaca website currently brings up an overlay with the VisitIthaca.com logo crossed out and a picture of a sunny beach scene below.

“That’s it. We surrender,” reads the notice at the top of the page. “Winter, you win. Key West anyone?”

“Due to this ridiculously stupid winter, Ithaca invites you to visit The Florida Keys this week,” the site continues. “Please come back when things thaw out.”

Of course, they haven’t actually given up on trying to lure people to Ithaca, regardless of the temperature. So the actual site for the city remains intact. But it is a clever way to acknowledge the unpleasant temperatures and how difficult it might be to get people to leave their homes, let alone travel hours to the middle of New York state.

“On behalf of 100 million Northeasterners, we’re saying that we’re done with cold and snow,” the bureau’s director explains to the Ithaca Journal. “This is a way for us to stay engaged with our customers at a time when Upstate New York isn’t exactly top of mind.”

When a woman in Australia checked her bank account balance earlier this week, she was surprised to see that she had $10 million available in her account. (That’s worth about $7.8 million US dollars, if you’re wondering.) She wondered whether it was an error or a prank, so she called her bank instead of running off on an international spending spree. The bank told her that it was no error: she was an unwitting millionaire.

This was surprising news to her, so she tried to figure out what was going on, ultimately taking her story to news outlets to get some attention. Her receipt inexplicably showed that she had a $7,500 overdraft at the same time that she had an account balance of $10 million, which shouldn’t be possible.

The $10 million figure, it turns out, is how much money the customer could in theory spend for her account type. That’s not a line of credit or her actual balance, just the spending cap if she did happen to have that much money.

Ultimately, her bank, ANZ, determined that the confusing limit came from a miscommunication between their system and ATMs from other banks. That’s not a very entertaining explanation, but the customer says that bankers have contacted her to explain the error.

Gold Coast’s momentary millionaire won’t have to repay overdraft [Gold Coast Bulletin]

If you’re planning a trip to Universal Orlando in the near future, leave your bottled water and other beverages at home: In a U-turn from its usual policy allowing visitors to bring their own drinks into Universal CityWalk and other theme areas, the park is putting a temporary ban on carry-in liquids.

Without any details for the reason behind the move or how long the ban would last, a park spokesman confirmed that the prohibition isn’t here to stay, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

“This is the result of a review of our procedures and is not permanent,” he told the paper in an emailed statement.

While other parks like Disney allow guests to bring in lunches as well as beverages, Universal Orlando had occupied a space in the middle, allowing small snacks and bottled water.

So it was surprising to visitors used to the old ways when they showed up unaware of the new rule (which does allow for medicines and baby formulas to be carried in).

“I just couldn’t believe it,” said one guest, who added that the line to get in slowed to a crawl as he and others were asked to dump their water bottles. “I just was thrown off.”

When something like this happens there’s of course speculation that perhaps Universal wants to line its own coffers by forcing visitors to buy branded bottle water inside. Or maybe it’s a security measure to ward against alcoholic beverages coming in during its Mardi Gras special event.

“It might be that they’re concerned about security, but in the end they’re going to end up selling more food and beverages through not allowing people to bring in the liquid,” a hospitality associate professor pointed out to the Orlando Sentinel.

In the meantime, Universal Orlando’s tips for visitors planning trips to the park still includes bottled water on the list of items acceptable to bring along.

Universal Orlando blocking bottled water [Orlando Sentinel]

On Sunday night, John Oliver called out the tobacco industry, and particularly Philip Morris, for the practice of threatening small and poor countries with complicated, expensive international trade lawsuits if they try to strictly regulate cigarette marketing. But while Big Tobacco has the coffers to pay for costly legal battles, it does a really poor job of trying to defend its actions.

In response to an L.A. Times article on the Oliver mocking — which not only introduced the new Marlboro Man, Jeff The Diseased Lung In A Cowboy Hat, but also the wildly popular hashtag #JeffWeCan — Philip Morris issued a statement that tries to minimize the seriousness of the claims made in the story while simultaneously acknowledging that the company’s products kill people.

First off, the statement takes the approach of trying to negate the 18-minute, thoroughly researched report by pointing out that it dares to come from someone with a sense of humor:

“’Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’ is a parody show, known for getting a laugh through exaggeration and presenting partial views in the name of humor. The segment includes many mischaracterizations of our company, including our approach to marketing and regulation, which have been embellished in the spirit of comedic license.”

Okay… so this should be where the very serious folks at Philip Morris go point by point and explain where Oliver exaggerated and embellished, but they don’t. It’s a classic non-response in which the accused tried to undercut the accuser’s argument by claiming he can’t possibly be providing the truth.

Philip Morris does not deny using threats of lawsuits to keep countries Uruguay from enacting tougher regulations on cigarette packaging.

It does, in an after-note, link to a 2014 explainer post from Philip Morris International saying that Uruguay was violating a trade agreement with Switzerland by requiring a warning label that covered 80% of the packaging.

Then there’s this brief gem from the statement:

“While we recognize the tobacco industry is an easy target for comedians, we take seriously the responsibility that comes with selling a product that is an adult choice and is harmful to health.”

The tobacco industry is an easy target for comedians because it has a long history of risible behavior. And how can Philip Morris expected to be taken seriously when it readily admits that the products it sells are “harmful to health”?

Philip Morris doesn’t need to blame comedians when it makes statements like this:
“We support and comply with thousands of regulations worldwide — including advertising restrictions, penalties for selling tobacco products to minors, and substantial health warnings on packaging.”

First off, the tobacco industry doesn’t support these regulations. It only supports the ones it can’t fight in a courtroom. Once it loses a battle — or realizes a battle can’t be won — then suddenly Big Tobacco, just like every other heavily regulated industry, claims to support and abide by the rules.

For example, Big Tobacco went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to fight graphic warning labels — which were mandated by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act all the way back in 2009. And even after SCOTUS rejected the industry’s appeal, Philip Morris’ partner-in-carcinogens Lorillard stated that “there will obviously be a good deal more litigation to come on this topic.”

It’s been nearly two years since that rare tobacco industry legal loss and we still have no idea if or when the labeling provision of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act will be enacted.

So no, the tobacco industry has absolutely no respect for attempts to educate and inform consumers. They just have respect for the few regulations they haven’t been successfully able to defeat in court.

Philip Morris would also have you believe that after more than a century of selling cigarettes, it suddenly cares about customers’ health:

“We’re investing billions into developing and scientifically assessing a portfolio of products that have the potential to be less harmful and that are satisfying so smokers will switch to them.”

Finally, in its closing sentence, Philip Morris gets into some actual specifics of why it takes such drastic actions to protect its products — aside from the billions it makes by giving people cancer and lung disease:

“And, like any other company with a responsibility to its business partners, shareholders and employees, we ask only that laws protecting investments, including trademarks, be equally applied to us.”

That’s honestly the best Philip Morris and Big Tobacco can come up with — We’ve spent a lot of money and have a lot of investors so please don’t mess with our packaging because it might cause us to earn smaller profits.

It’s an argument that might be tenable if cigarettes did anything other than poison the people who buy them — or live in the same house with them.

Anyway, here is the full Last Week Tonight piece that has already been seen watched nearly 2 million times since yesterday morning:

Crack open a Butterfinger bar and you’ll find a core that uses food dyes like Red 40 and Yellow 5 to get that distinctive orange hue. While these and other artificial ingredients are certified by the FDA for use in food, a growing number of consumers are looking for products with more natural ingredients. That’s why Nestlé USA has pledged to remove artificial flavors and colors from all of its chocolate items by the end of the year.

The change will impact more than 250 different Nestlé products across 10 different brand lines, including the various Butterfinger, Nestlé Crunch, and Baby Ruth bars you buy when you’re at the movie theater. Other Nestlé brands included in the change are Raisinets, Goobers, Sno Caps, 100 Grand, Oh Henry, Chunky, and Skinny Cow.

In a statement, the company gives two examples of ingredient changes. The aforementioned color of the Butterfinger core will no longer come from Red 40 and Yellow 5, but from annatto seeds, which has long been used as a natural food colorant. And Nestlé Crunch products will no longer use artificial vanillin but natural vanilla flavor.

Nestlé claims that the revamped products will begin hitting retail shelves by the middle of the year. They will be distinguished from existing items by a “No Artificial Flavors of Colors” notation on the packaging.

In addition to the removal of the artificial ingredients, Nestlé says it is investigating the possibility of replacing the caramel coloring that it uses in a handful of these products. While caramel coloring is exempt from FDA certification and would thus not fall under the umbrella of “artificial,” some types of caramel coloring include high levels of 4-Methylimidazole (4-MEI), a possible carcinogen. Recent studies have found that some colas may contain high levels of 4-MEI.

“We know that candy consumers are interested in broader food trends around fewer artificial ingredients,” says Doreen Ida, president, Nestlé USA Confections & Snacks. “As we thought about what this means for our candy brands, our first step has been to remove artificial flavors and colors without affecting taste or increasing the price.”

The company says it has conducted taste testing to ensure that the updated products don’t drive away customers who are happy with the current versions.

Here is what people want their smoke detector to do: sound an alarm when there is smoke. Here is what they do not want their smoke detector to do: sound an alarm for no reason whatsoever in the middle of the night. Users of the connected smoke detector from Nest, a company owned by Google, complain that this is what’s happening to them.

Don’t take our word for it, though. One Google employee, Brad Fitzpatrick, took to his Google+ account (where else?) and warned the general public not to buy the current version of the Nest Protect. The problem, he says, is that false alarms are a problem, and that when they happen, you can’t turn the alarm off. He called the product an “unhushable pieces of crap.”

There’s a video of the nightmare available, which we don’t recommend actually watching, because it is loud and annoying. Fitzpatrick isn’t alone, though: here are excerpts from Amazon reviews of the product posted just during the month of February 2015 (which is only half over.)

One reviewer had at least one nice thing to say about the smoke detector:

This product is a nice path light, I’ll give it that. Otherwise, it is a machine designed to place terror in the hearts of your children as it randomly triggers false alarms on different units at random times. Fortunately, since the nest protects are all wirelessly interconnected, no one misses out on any of the false alarms.

What happens when the alarms go off while you’re not home? They annoy your neighbors if you live in an apartment or condo. What if they go off while your kids are home with a babysitter? Everyone has to go huddle in the car because the alarm can’t be turned off.

My wife and I were at a close friend’s wedding, and our babysitter called to let us know the alarms were going off. This time, she couldn’t get the unit to “hush”. The alarms went off for over an hour late at night, and the babysitter had to take the kids out of the house and sit in her car for an hour just to get a break– Nest literally ran my kids out of their own home.

Another reviewer pointed out that when their home actually did fill with smoke, the alarm didn’t go off. So there’s that.

We’ll contact Google and find out whether they have any comment on the false alarms issue, and update you if they do.

Do NOT buy a Nest smoke alarm. [Google+]