Potato chips are a great snack, but if they're stale I'd rather eat the bag. A little time in the oven helps restore those treats to their—almost—former glory.
Sometimes, quitting is the best option—whether it's a side project, job, relationship, or any other part of life. However, we also quit because we don't have the resources to complete something, when things get tough, and when the timing makes us "feels" like we have to. Here are the most common times people quit, and what you can do to push through.
Although much is said about summer's hottest produce ticket, the tomato, and its many multicolored heirloom varieties, rarely do varieties of winter's biggest vegetable, squash, get the same kind of attention. Thankfully, someone's stepped up to the plate and created a handy, extensive visual guide to the many different varieties of winter squash.
Before you have kids, your car is probably kept in decent, if not pristine condition. After you have kids, every surface in your car has the potential to turn into a sticky, glittery, crumb-covered mess. Keep your kids occupied in the car without the mess with these simple hacks.
Remember the View-Master—a 75-year-old stereoscopic viewer toy that used cardboard reels? Today Google and Mattel are reviving the device for the 21st century. Instead of showing still images, it's now a virtual reality toy. And instead of housing plastic film, the reels now serve as augmented reality markers that interact with the headset.
The device is basically a plastic version of Google Cardboard. Like Cardboard, the new View-Master needs a smartphone to work—a phone slides into the front of the device, serves as the screen, and runs all the content. The traditional orange handle on the side of the View-Master used to serve as the "next reel" button, but on the VR reboot it serves as the input button, allowing users to confirm choices they see on-screen. On Google cardboard this was accomplished with a magnet and a metal washer.
The View-Master disks are now "Experience Reels" and serve as markers for augmented reality. The disks don't go into the unit; they now sit on the table in front of the user. The patterns on the disks are picked up by the smartphone camera, and the smartphone shows a camera feed with a 3D model superimposed on the disk. By pointing the View-Master at the disk and pressing the confirm button, the user can "dive-in" to the content and switch to full VR.
The data breaches, major and minor, that we’ve seen over the past few years aren’t going anywhere. Payment system and database hacks are, for now, basically inevitable. And that’s why Visa and MasterCard have both announced plans to expand their security features for online shopping.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the two largest credit card companies have this week both announced new initiatives launching this spring to protect shoppers (and merchants) from fraud and theft.
MasterCard frames their two-pronged approach as increasing “peace of mind.” One element is a program called MasterCard Safety Net. The company claims vaguely that Safety Net “provides an independent layer of security on top of the tools and policies of financial institutions, by monitoring and blocking specific transactions based on selected criteria.”
If that sounds like it might be inconvenient and/or creepy, MasterCard has apparently guessed that you feel that way. The company promises, “Safety Net is designed to intervene only in extreme cases to block fraudulent activity.”
The other half of MasterCard’s strategy is biometrics. The company is pairing with First Tech Federal Credit Union to work on a pilot program that will allow customers to use unique identifiers — including face, fingerprint, and voice matching — to authenticate and verify transactions. If it goes well, other card-issuing banks are likely to follow in the future.
And what of more pedestrian security concerns, like getting Americans onto the chip-enabled cards everyone else uses? MasterCard reports that the transition is “well underway”, with half of all cards and just under half (47%) of all point-of-sale terminals projected to be chip-enabled by the end of 2015.
Visa, meanwhile, is taking a different approach. Where MasterCard is focusing on making the customer prove a charge is authorized, Visa is working on scrambling information that might be stolen, so that it’s useless when it is.
Their initiative is called the Visa Token Service, and it launched last year. It works in basically the same way Apple Pay does (in fact, it’s part of Apple Pay): instead of transmitting your 16-digit card number, expiration date, and security code, Visa instead shares a unique number — your token — with the merchant getting paid.
If someone intercepts the transmission or the system and manages to yank that token, all they have is a string of numbers. It’s not a thing that can be cloned onto a new payment card or used in any meaningful way.
What’s new about it is that Visa is trying to expand the Token Service out of just mobile payments, and into traditional online retailers as well. When your credit card is stored on the site of a merchant you regularly shop with, that’s a weakness: anyone who breaches that database has to everything they need to commit fraud on your card. But if the merchant stores a random token in your account information, instead of your credit card number, that data once again becomes meaningless to thieves even while it remains convenient to consumers.
It will continue to take time for both companies, as well as the thousands of companies people shop with, to get all of their systems upgraded. But given that tens or hundreds of millions of payment card data breaches happen every year, every step helps.
One good reason to pay your restaurant bill in cash: Tipped employees get that money right away without having to worry about being docked fees for card-processing. Another good reason: A scammy server can’t artificially inflate your credit card tip with some crafty work of the pen.
WTAE-TV reports that a waitress at an Italian restaurant in Pennsylvania was caught doctoring low-dollar credit card tips to enrich herself (and feed an alleged drug problem).
So if a customer wrote in a $5 tip, police say the waitress would write in a “1” or “2,” suddenly increasing that to a $15 or $25 tip.
Of course, if you’re leaving a $5 tip on your meal, that means you probably only spent around $20-25 on food to begin with, so customers are going to notice when they’re ultimately charged upwards of twice the menu price.
And they did notice, complaining to the restaurant about the apparent errors.
“We figured out who the server was, and then we pulled all of her slips,” the manager tells WTAE. “We tried to go through and get as many of the customers’ names, numbers and call them and take care of it and refund them.”
After being fingered for the scam, the waitress reportedly fessed up to her crimes. The restaurant believes that around 20 customers’ bills were affected by the bogus tips.
The manager says changes have been made to restaurant procedures that will hopefully prevent this from happening again.
“”We go through all the slips every night just to make sure nothing is fishy,” he explains. “We just really didn’t expect one of our workers to be doing that, but when it happens, it makes you aware. Nobody should have to worry about it again, coming here.”
Mattel and Google teamed up to create a virtual reality toy for kids.
The days of grainy, hard to decipher photos that came with Mattel’s View-Master are apparently behind us. The company, along with Google, revealed an overhaul that transforms the classic kids’ toy into a virtual reality gadget.
Mashable reports the reimagined View-Master is powered by Google’s Cardboard technology and enables children to get a peek at what virtual reality technology is all about.
The View-Master, which looks similar to the original version that launched 76 years ago, requires a smartphone and a corresponding app to work.
To use the device, consumers must slide their mobile phone into the front portion of the device and pair the corresponding app. Users can then experience virtual scenes from Paris, Alcatraz Island and the solar system.
The device, which is set to launch in October, will sell for about $30 and includes a sample experience reel. Mattel says users can purchase additional reels for more immersive experiences.
The revamped View-Master is just the beginning of Mattel’s entrance into virtual reality, officials with the company say.
“We are also in the process of adding light gaming — interactivity is the key to making this work,” Doug Wadleigh, Mattel’s senior vice-president and general manager, said at the device’s unveiling.
Mattel says the new technology is safe for children ages seven and up. Although the device is currently undergoing more testing the company says it shouldn’t cause dizziness, however, use is only recommended for short periods at a time.
(Just picture a bunch of flowers around that. DEARTH !)
When it comes to marijuana in Colorado, now that the stuff is legal for recreational purposes, you better believe retailers are trying to lure in all the greenery loving customers it can. So what better way to show your cannabis cutie how you feel than with a “budquet” of marijuana? I would also like to apologize for the phrase “cannabis cutie,” but it cannot be helped.
These arrangements include flowers, one because a bouquet entirely made from pot would likely be a bit pricy and also because it’s just too stinky.
“You can’t do a lot because the smell is so overwhelming. It’s more of a little accent here and there,” the owner of one Denver shop tells WTSP.com.
She maintains that for pot fans, incorporating their favorite plant into their daily lives is just like giving someone chocolate or wine.
There are legal parameters in place for these arrangements, in order for florists to make them: The customer must provide the marijuana, and the florist cannot deliver the result, it has to be picked up at the store by the buyer.
Rotterdam Square Mall, outside of Schenectady, NY, is not doing so well. It keeps losing stores, as dying malls tend to do, with its Gap and Macy’s shutting down early this year. Yesterday, something unusual happened when the mall’s power went out…not because of weather or supply issues, but allegedly because of an unpaid bill.
We don’t know how much that bill is, because the local power company, National Grid, doesn’t give out that information for fairly obvious privacy reasons. However, the mall nearly had its power cut off back in November, and at that time, the outstanding balance had reached over $100,000.
If you’re wondering how doomed this particular mall is, it has both Sears and Kmart as anchors, in addition to its Deb store closing along with the rest of that chain, the mall has also lost its Gap store, and another anchor in Macy’s.
The owner wouldn’t talk to the media, and a security guard at the mall referred a reporter to the owner. The mall remained inexplicably open through the power cutoff, but at least anchors Kmart and Sears have their own power meters and are not dependent on the mall’s electricity.
The owner has other malls, many of which are not in great physical or financial shape. One had to be demolished after he admitted that he couldn’t afford repairs to keep the structure safe.
In an effort to stop effectively pouring money straight into the gas tank, the United States Postal Service has taken the first step toward retiring its fleet of decades old, gas-guzzling trucks. The agency spent more than $539.7 million on fuel in its last fiscal year, partly because some of the trucks are just so darn old.
The white trucks we all know so well showed up in the late 1980s and early 1990s — long before Amazon.com, my young grasshoppers — making them pretty much dinosaurs in the new consumer world that has emerged since then, notes the Wall Street Journal.
Namely, they’re too small, inefficient (getting around 10 miles to the gallon) and unsafe to do the job right. So the USPS is starting the process to figure out how it can retire the aging fleet. It’s issued a request for information to start the process off.
Thus far General Motors is interested in winning the contract, which could bring in about $5 billion in revenue for the winner.
“Though the existing fleet has served the Postal Service well, it has become expensive to continue to maintain the aging vehicles. More importantly though,” a USPS spokeswoman told the WSJ, “shifts in consumer trends are driving a lot of factors being considered in a next-generation vehicle.”
Changing up the trucks won’t only bring in some cash for whichever automaker wins the contract, but will also save the USPS in fuel and logistical improvements. It’s already bleeding cash, and this could help to stem that flow.
The USPS is looking for about 180,000 “next-generation delivery vehicles” which would eventually replace its 163,000 light-duty mail trucks it’s using now. Those trucks were designed to deliver letters, and are now used at a time when the USPS delivers more packages than snail mail letters.
Also, letter carriers want cupholders, among other things.
“The postal service is experiencing record growth in package delivery, and obtaining vehicles that are designed with the changing mail mix in mind will help improve efficiency of delivery operations,” the spokeswoman said, adding that the USPS is open to any proposal it receives.
The USPS will hold a conference on Feb. 18 to answer questions from potential suppliers about the process, she says.
“It’s the right time not only because of maintenance challenges but because it’s a good opportunity to improve efficiency,” she said.
WASHINGTON — The project is underway to put a face to every name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on the National Mall.
The National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the organization behind the wall, is reaching out to families across the nation to collect photos of their lost loved ones.
The group is seeking high-resolution photographs of the fallen, in uniform. Families can upload the pictures for the Wall of Faces page on the organization’s website.
Jim Magone, from Montana, visited the site Thursday to see the names of two friends from high school who died while fighting in Vietnam.
“I think that’s a very good idea,” Magone said of the photo collection.
Right now, the pictures will appear on the memorial fund’s website, but in the future, USA TODAY reports, the organization will use the photos in a two-story underground education center at the memorial site.
Of the more than 58,000 names, thousands of pictures have already been submitted. In the area, the project still needs the photos of 619 fallen soldiers from Virginia, 175 from Maryland and 150 from D.C.
WASHINGTON — People who are susceptible to having a stroke might want to stay well hydrated — it might help their recovery if they do have one.
Forty-two percent of people who are dehydrated when having a stroke end up with conditions that worsen or stay the same, according to new research. Those poor outcomes apply to just 17 percent of well-hydrated stroke victims.
The findings are based on evaluations of 10 months of clot-related stroke patients admitted to the Comprehensive Stroke Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
The lead researcher says it’s not clear why dehydration often causes conditions to either stay the same or worsen. Additional studies might determine whether it’s because thicker blood doesn’t flow as well through narrowed or blocked blood vessels.
Previous studies suggest 60 percent of stroke victims are dehydrated when it happens. That has this latest study’s lead researcher saying perhaps doctors should be giving more fluids to patients before and after they have strokes.
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Some out-of-state motorists were charged additional fees for traveling through tunnels between Norfolk and Portsmouth because transponders on out-of-state E-ZPass accounts were not read correctly.
The Virginian-Pilot reports (http://bit.ly/1B1XYUG ) the company in charge of the electronic tolling system at the tunnels says it fixed the problem on Feb. 5 and is working to issue refunds to anyone whose E-ZPass account was billed extra because of it.
Elizabeth River Crossings says a software change in December resulted in motorists with out-of-state accounts being mailed a bill when they used the tunnels. The company says it didn’t realize the problem until late January.
Many Hampton Roads motorists opened E-ZPass accounts in other states to avoid the monthly account maintenance fee that Virginia previously charged on its E-ZPass system.
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Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://pilotonline.com
Way back in 2013, we shared the news that Sysco, the country’s biggest supplier to restaurants and other food-service facilities, wanted to acquire its next-biggest competitor, US Foods. Yet the Federal Trade Commission still hasn’t come to a decision about that proposal. FTC officials don’t agree on the question of whether Sysco plans to sell enough of its business to make sure the restaurant supply business stays competitive.
Even if you’ve never heard of either of these companies, you have almost certainly used their products before: they supply establishments that range from humble cafeterias to fancy restaurants. It’s that reach that the FTC is concerned with. Sysco proposed the sale of 11 of its distribution centers to another competitor, and inside sources tell the Wall Street Journal that FTC staff remain divided: some believe that selling some centers will be enough, and others disagree. With only one major supplier, all of those food-serving businesses would be stuck without any competitors to go to if USyscoFoods raised prices.
The FTC still hasn’t reached a final conclusion whether to approve the merger or block it due to antitrust concerns. This week, Sysco representatives visited the FTC to discuss the commission’s concerns. If combined, the new company would have something like 25% of the commercial food supply market––perhaps a bit less if Sysco is forced to sell additional distribution centers so the deal will go through.
A pile of sensitive personal data from Florida residents is now on the loose online. But it wasn’t leaked from a hack or a breach. It was from a completely legitimate public records dump by the state’s former governor.
As The Verge explains, former Florida governor Jeb Bush and his staff released the messages in a bid for transparency as part of his run-up to a likely presidential campaign in 2016.
The messages, spanning the eight-year period from 1999-2007, cover a huge array of topics, both vague and detailed. And the devil is in those details: many messages contain very specific information about the constituents who wrote or are referenced in them.
That information includes not only names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and sometimes phone numbers, as you might expect, but also in some instances, sensitive personal information like medical data and even Social Security numbers.
Floridians are rightfully concerned that material they sent in confidence is now available on-demand online. And yet, public records are just that: public, designed by their nature to be shared on request.
More and more public data each year is stored in easily-shared digital files. Bush’s gubernatorial oversharing might be the biggest, highest-profile blunder to happen with it so far but it’s not likely to be the last. And that leads to an important question that will only keep getting more important: when public records laws meet private data rules, what wins out? Do individuals have protections?
The answer, frustrating as it may be, is: “it depends.”
In this particular case, Florida has very explicit laws on the books about both keeping public records public and also protecting personal data.
All of the e-mails are, indeed, open public records. The messages from Bush’s official e-mail account even all include a footer reading: “Please Note: Florida has a very broad public records law. Most written communications to or from state officials regarding state business are public records available to the public and media upon request. Your e-mail communications may therefore be subject to public disclosure.”
But, as The Verge explains, Florida law also very clearly exempts Social Security numbers from those disclosure laws. A Florida attorney told The Verge, “It doesn’t matter how an agency or official obtained the information; once obtained it is a public record and the SSNs are confidential and exempt under the law.”
So an SSN received in an official form and one sent in an e-mail are both public records, under Florida law, and both equally required to be kept confidential when the documents are shared.
But that’s just Florida. We’ve got 49 other states, a District, and a handful of territories to contend with, as well as federal law, and the protections are far from even across the board.
Every state handles public records laws differently. And different agencies and offices within each state handle records differently, with a web of public and privileged (confidential) information mixing all over. Court records are not the same as land deeds, which are not the same as DMV information, which is different from comments on proceedings, and so on.
Different public records have different levels of information and are, frankly, different levels of public. Some are in the bottom of locked filing cabinets in the basement behind a sign saying “beware of the leopard,” and some are easily queried online by basically anyone, anywhere.
A 2012 government report (PDF) finds legislation and case law about the privacy of personal information, specifically Social Security numbers, varies hugely around the country. Some areas are protected under federal law (for example, the government can’t print SSNs on any checks they send out), but public records disclosures are entirely a state-level matter.
In the game of politics, Bush’s bulk data drop is a gaffe that’s already fading as the news cycle churns over. For the Floridians whose personal information made a very high-profile splash on the internet, the effects will likely linger much longer.
Facebook has long had a complicated relationship with death. Absent giving someone the password to your account (a violation of its terms of service), it was impossible to act on a deceased loved one’s behalf.
Facebook is now making it a little easier for your loved ones to manage your profile page after you’ve shuffled off this mortal coil.
Specifically, Facebook will allow its users to choose a “legacy contact” who will be given the ability to execute only a few specific functions on behalf of the deceased. (If you want, you can also choose to have your Facebook page deleted upon death instead.)
Would you pay to enter a sweepstakes that it’s impossible to lose? Late last year, our representatives in Congress and the President all agreed on something, a bill called the American Savings Promotion Act. It made prize-linked savings accounts, something that serves as a combination lottery and savings vehicle, legal for United States banks.
We’ve covered this topic in the past, back in 2010 when a few credit unions were testing the concept in states that allowed it. Thanks to the change in federal law, prize-linked accounts are allowed at for-profit banks, and some banks are considering making them available to customers. (In some states, the only lottery that can legally operate is the government’s.)
Prize-linked savings accounts exist in other countries, and they’re rather popular. While everyone loves prizes, they’re aimed at a specific part of the population: lower-income people who have very little savings. Experts know that poor people are more likely to play the lottery, so why not incentivize people to stick money in a savings account by offering lottery-style prizes? Even if bank customers or credit union members don’t win any prize, they still have the money they saved and a tiny amount of interest earned.
The basic concept is that a small part of the interest that all of the savings accounts earn is kept aside for prizes, which are awarded to random account holders. In the Save to Win program, for example, each $25 certificate of deposit that an account holder has is considered an entry in the sweepstakes. Prizes aren’t exactly Powerball level, starting at $25 and topping out with one big annual prize of $10,000 awarded to a lucky account holder in North Carolina.
Each tax season fraudsters manage to separate taxpayers from billions of dollars by using aggressive schemes such as impersonating Internal Revenue Service agents or employing emails and websites designed to gather consumers’ personal information for fraudulent use. This year, the IRS has issued a list of the “Dirty Dozen” scams consumers should guard against.
The “Dirty Dozen” scams identified by the IRS cover a variety of tactics known to be used by fraudsters including phone calls impersonating tax officials, identity theft attempts, fake charities and offshore tax avoidance schemes.
Unsurprisingly the top scam identified by the agency involves aggressive phone calls by scammers impersonating IRS agents.
Such calls have been the focus of many consumer complaints recently. Back in January, the IRS said that in the last 15 months alone, the agency had received more than 290,000 reports of the scam.
Just last week, Consumerist reported on an incident in which Safeway employees prevented a Washington woman from falling victim to the scam, which involved a caller threatening arrest if the woman didn’t immediately pay purported back taxes.
As was the case in Washington, these scams often involve threats of police arrest, deportation and license revocation if the targeted individual does not provide an immediate payment.
As always, the IRS reminds consumers that if the agency believes you owe it money, you will get a bill in the mail. The agency will not call you and tell you that you need to pay ASAP, nor will they ask you for credit or debit card information over the phone. The IRS also will not threaten to have you arrested for lack of payment.
Another top scheme the IRS highlighted this week involves the use of phishing emails and websites developed specifically to steal taxpayers’ personal information.
The agency reminds consumers that it will not send emails about a bill or refund out of the blue and that people should avoid clicking on surprise emails or websites claiming to be from the IRS.
The IRS says that illegal scams such as phishing emails and aggressive phone calls can lead to significant issues for consumers, including penalties and interest, as well as possible criminal prosecution.
“We are doing everything we can to help taxpayers avoid scams as the tax season continues,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in a statement. “Whether it’s a phone scam or scheme to steal a taxpayer’s identity, there are simple steps to take to help stop these con artists. We urge taxpayers to visit IRS.gov for more information and to be wary of these dozen tax scams.”
The remaining “Dirty Dozen” scams the agency highlighted this year include:
• Offshore Tax Avoidance: The recent string of successful enforcement actions against offshore tax cheats and the financial organizations that help them shows that it’s a bad bet to hide money and income offshore. Taxpayers are best served by coming in voluntarily and getting their taxes and filing requirements in order. The IRS offers the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) to help people get their taxes in order.
• Inflated Refund Claims: Taxpayers need to be on the lookout for anyone promising inflated refunds. Taxpayers should be wary of anyone who asks them to sign a blank return, promise a big refund before looking at their records, or charge fees based on a percentage of the refund. Scam artists use flyers, advertisements, phony store fronts and word of mouth via community groups and churches in seeking victims.
• Fake Charities: Taxpayers should be on guard against groups masquerading as charitable organizations to attract donations from unsuspecting contributors. Contributors should take a few extra minutes to ensure their hard-earned money goes to legitimate and currently eligible charities. IRS.gov has the tools taxpayers need to check out the status of charitable organizations. Be wary of charities with names that are similar to familiar or nationally known organizations.
• Hiding Income with Fake Documents: Hiding taxable income by filing false Form 1099s or other fake documents is a scam that taxpayers should always avoid and guard against. The mere suggestion of falsifying documents to reduce tax bills or inflate tax refunds is a huge red flag when using a paid tax return preparer. Taxpayers are legally responsible for what is on their returns regardless of who prepares the returns.
• Abusive Tax Shelters: Taxpayers should avoid using abusive tax structures to avoid paying taxes. The IRS is committed to stopping complex tax avoidance schemes and the people who create and sell them. The vast majority of taxpayers pay their fair share, and everyone should be on the lookout for people peddling tax shelters that sound too good to be true. When in doubt, taxpayers should seek an independent opinion regarding complex products they are offered.
• Falsifying Income to Claim Credits: Taxpayers should avoid inventing income to erroneously claim tax credits. Taxpayers are sometimes talked into doing this by scam artists. Taxpayers are best served by filing the most-accurate return possible because they are legally responsible for what is on their return.
• Excessive Claims for Fuel Tax Credits: Taxpayers need to avoid improper claims for fuel tax credits. The fuel tax credit is generally limited to off-highway business use, including use in farming. Consequently, the credit is not available to most taxpayers. But yet, the IRS routinely finds unscrupulous preparers who have enticed sizable groups of taxpayers to erroneously claim the credit to inflate their refunds.
• Frivolous Tax Arguments: Taxpayers should avoid using frivolous tax arguments to avoid paying their taxes. Promoters of frivolous schemes encourage taxpayers to make unreasonable and outlandish claims to avoid paying the taxes they owe. These arguments are wrong and have been thrown out of court. While taxpayers have the right to contest their tax liabilities in court, no one has the right to disobey the law or disregard their responsibility to pay taxes. The penalty for filing a frivolous tax return is $5,000.
Fairfax County Animal Watch Washington Post The following incidents were reported by the Animal Control Division of the Fairfax County Police Department. For information, call 703-246-2253. Inadequate care: Fones Pl., 13300 block, 3:26 p.m. Feb. 3. An officer responding to a call about two dogs ...
This week’s Arlington Pet of the Week is Oreo, a delicious dog who has “taken a liking to Sam Adams beer.”
This is what Oreo’s owner, Ron, had to say:
When I’m not busy trying to avoid being dunked in a tall glass of milk, or figuring out ways to legally change my name so I can avoid that whole issue in the first place, I enjoy hanging out with my canine friends in Clarendon. While ladies always comment on the “dogs” that are out in the local establishments, I don’t think they are referring to me and my friends as they are always happy to see me.
My best quality is making people smile. Even grumpy people going to work in the morning sometimes cheer up when they see me. I love traveling to new places and have explored many local parks. I really love the snow and can’t wait to stick my face in it, especially after a fresh bath.
I’ve also developed a refined palette and have taken a liking to Sam Adams beer as you can see. I’m hopefully I might get a brother; rumor has it Snicker Doodle might be heading to my house in the near future.
I do lots of tricks, but something unique I do is the Michael Jackson moonwalk. That’s right, I moonwalk! I can send a video of that too if you’d like to see it. I have to admit, it’s pretty cool.
Want your pet to be considered for the Arlington Pet of the Week? Email office@arlnow.com with a 2-3 paragraph bio and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos of your pet.
Each week’s winner receives a sample of dog or cat treats from our sponsor, Becky’s Pet Care, along with $100 in Becky’s Bucks. Becky’s Pet Care, the winner of three Angie’s List Super Service Awards and the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters’ 2013 Business of the Year, provides professional dog walking and pet sitting services in Arlington and Northern Virginia.
So let’s say you work at a hardware store, or other Do-It-Yourself home improvement spot. Sure, you get a bunch of customers on a day-to-day basis, but then one day… One day it’s different. There are suddenly hordes of demanding customers tearing apart the shelves and buying up all the ropes and cable ties. To prepare its workers for this possibility upon this weekend’s release of S&M fiction turned movie Fifty Shades of Grey, a British chain has issued a memo to its workers with a convenient plot outline, warning them to expect a rush of customers.
The UK chain issued a memo to staff, urging them to either read the book or see the movie so they can be in the know about what’s popular for their customers, reports Wales Online.
“Copies of the book will be delivered to each store and can be lent to staff on a one week basis,” the memo reads. “Understanding the storyline and how some products that B&Q stock feature in the film will better prepare staff for incoming queries.”
No, there’s nothing to do with power tools (as we know them, at least), but there is a scene where the main character, an unbelievably rich guy with a room dedicated to sex toys and a helicopter at his disposal, stops at a hardware store to buy rope, cables ties and tape.
“We stock many of the products featured in this notable scene and then used later in the film,” the memo explains, adding that such a rush has happened before.
“When the book was released in 2012 DIY and hardware stores in the UK and US reported increased demand of certain products and queries from customers as they tried to recreate their own Fifty Shades experiences.”
To keep an eye on the business aspect of things, store managers should “monitor stock levels of rope, cable ties, masking tape and duct tape to ensure that supplies do not run low.”
The memo ends, “If you have any questions or concerns relating to the contents of this briefing please speak to your regional manager.”
Though staff were urged to keep the content of the briefing to themselves, apparently someone just couldn’t contain their excitement, as it’s now been shared with the world. If, that is, it’s real and not some hoax designed to make us all giggle about sexy stuff originally written as Twilight fan fiction.
The Jamala Wildlife Lodge in Australia lets guests stay in adjoining rooms with zoo animals.
Staying in a hotel can be a pretty mundane event: You go to the pool, you watch TV, maybe even order room service. A new hotel in Australia is turning those less-than-exciting trips on their heads by offering guests a chance to lodge with some wild animals.
Business Insider reports that the Jamala Wildlife Lodge, located in the Australia’s National Zoo and Aquarium, lets guests almost share a room with giraffes, lions, monkeys, sharks, bears and other animals for one night.
To achieve such unusual accommodations, the hotel incorporated 18 suites into many of the zoo’s enclosures, with millimeter-thin glass separating guests from the zoo’s inhabitants.
The lodge has three suite options, each with a different group of animals to gawk at: the Giraffe Treehouses, uShaka Lodge, and the Jungle Bungalows.
The Giraffe Treehouses includes six suites that sit high off the ground, adjacent to the giraffe enclosure. Guests at the treehouse can feed the resident giraffe either from their balcony or his enclosure.
The uShaka Lodge is composed of seven suites that are in full view of the 52,000 gallon Australian shark tank. The Lodge’s terrace also provides access to many of the zoo’s monkeys.
The Jungle Bungalows feature five suites backing up to enclosures for African lions, cheetahs, bears and other zoo inhabitants.
Guests who book the one-night stay – which starts at $400 per person – receive pre-dinner drinks, an African-inspired dinner and breakfast the next morning.
Because rooms only feature one or two animals, the hotel offers guests full access to the rest of the zoo during their stay, as well as exclusive tours of the facilities.
This week, ABInBev announced that it’s unleashing something terrifying sounding called a Bud Light Mixxtail, a malt liquor beverage that pretty much sounds like someone dropped a couple cinnamon red hots in a vat of Zima and called it a day. But hey, it’s sweet, and millennials like sweet stuff! According to the powers that be.
There are three flavors of pre-mixxed cocktails arriving next week, the company says: Firewalker, which is the aforementioned cinnamon beverage, as well as Hurricane and that beloved blackout cocktail, Long Island. All come pre-mixed, and with higher alcohol content than a beer.
Perhaps you kids are too young to remember the Zima days, but for the rest of you:
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — A private Virginia zoo that has been the target of numerous complaints by animal protection advocates has been cited for violating 31 federal regulations.
The Roanoke Times (http://bit.ly/1A9CrcT) reported Tuesday that the violations at the Natural Bridge Zoo include a caged monkey that was jabbed with sticks and guinea pigs that were slammed to death on a concrete floor before being fed to tigers.
The findings followed a four-day inspection conducted in January by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The zoo’s owner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Information from: The Roanoke Times, http://www.roanoke.com
Each year thousands of manufacturers recalled potentially dangerous and deadly products. While systems in place to notify consumers of these issues have resulted in fewer deaths and injuries in recent years, a new report has found that companies aren’t using their power on social media to protect consumers.
ABC News reports that the latest Kids in Danger report [PDF] found that companies who use social media to promote their products to tens of thousands of “fans” aren’t harvesting that clout to notify consumers of recent recalls.
The consumer watchdog group says that while a majority of companies who have been involved in children’s product recalls have a Facebook page, less than a quarter of those companies actually use the social media site to pass on information about dangerous products.
Officials with the Consumer Product Safety Commission expressed concern for companies’ failure to alert consumers of recalls through social media back in November.
“I think some of them are certainly putting far more effort into sales than they are on the recall side. We definitely see that,” Elliot Kaye, head of the CPSC, told ABC News at the time. “What we see is there’s a quick hit on the recall side, it’s relatively narrow. They don’t use all their resources. They don’t use all their creativity. They don’t use all their social media channels to be able to do this, and that’s what we’re asking for.”
While there is no specific requirement under federal law regarding the effort manufacturers must put into recalls, several groups promote “best practices” that include social media outreach.
Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association said in a statement to ABC News that it urges the 250 companies it represents to engage on social media.
Still, officials with Kids in Danger say that the percentage of faulty products that are properly returned under the current recall system is extremely low.
In fact, the report found that almost 80% of most recalled children’s products remain in consumers’ possession.
“It’s a continuing struggle,” Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids in Danger, told ABC News. “The Internet is a slippery place to try to find people selling things.”
In Thailand, when an abandoned mall lost its roof, it filled with water, which attracted mosquito larvae, and then neighbors stocked it with fish. In Akron, Ohio, an abandoned mall lost its glass skylights, which meant that in the winter the building filled with snow. Here is your post-apocalyptic winter wonderland.
These photos were taken by Johnny Joo, a local photographer who explores and takes pictures of abandoned spaces. The snowscape is at Rolling Acres, a dead mall that has made some appearances here on Consumerist before. Another photographer kindly granted us the use his photos, which we’ve featured in Flickr Finds and in a post about dead malls, appropriately enough.
The last anchor store at Rolling Acres closed in 2013, but the main part of the mall closed in 2008.
This mall is entirely abandoned: the Akron Beacon Journal reports that it’s up for a sheriff’s sale next month since the owners stopped paying taxes years ago. That is planned for March 17, in case you’ve always wanted your own indoor snowboarding park.
One good reason to pay your restaurant bill in cash: Tipped employees get that money right away without having to worry about being docked fees for card-processing. Another good reason: A scammy server can’t artificially inflate your credit card tip with some crafty work of the pen.
When it comes to marijuana in Colorado, now that the stuff is legal for recreational purposes, you better believe retailers are trying to lure in all the greenery loving customers it can. So what better way to show your cannabis cutie how you feel than with a “budquet” of marijuana? I would also like to apologize for the phrase “cannabis cutie,” but it cannot be helped.
So let’s say you work at a hardware store, or other Do-It-Yourself home improvement spot. Sure, you get a bunch of customers on a day-to-day basis, but then one day… One day it’s different. There are suddenly hordes of demanding customers tearing apart the shelves and buying up all the ropes and cable ties. To prepare its workers for this possibility upon this weekend’s release of S&M fiction turned movie Fifty Shades of Grey, a British chain has issued a memo to its workers with a convenient plot outline, warning them to expect a rush of customers.
This week, ABInBev announced that it’s unleashing something terrifying sounding called a Bud Light Mixxtail, a malt liquor beverage that pretty much sounds like someone dropped a couple cinnamon red hots in a vat of Zima and called it a day. But hey, it’s sweet, and millennials like sweet stuff! According to the powers that be.
