pileofcrapola

Tortoises have been on the planet for over 200 million years, which means that these exciting creatures walked the earth at the same time as dinosaurs.^[1] They make enchanting pets and are fun to watch and to care for. However, since they've been around a long time, they've had plenty of time to pick up a few preferences and to develop a thorough list of personal care needs. This means that caring for a tortoise is a bigger commitment than you may think and that it takes time and dedication to make sure that your tortoise stays healthy and strong. If you want to learn how to start caring for this incredible creature, see Step 1 to get started.

Steps

Choosing Your Tortoise

1. Choose your tortoise. Tortoises come in many varieties and there are many factors to consider when it comes to choosing one, from the way you want your tortoise to look, the environment your tortoise prefers, and how much money you want to "shell out" on this shelled creature. Any type of tortoise you choose will make a wonderful pet for your family, once you commit to caring for this particular breed. Some of the more common breeds of tortoises include the Sulcata, Leopard, Redfoot, Yellowfoot, Greek, Russian, Hermanns, and Indian Star. Here are some things you need to know about choosing a tortoise:^[2]
   
   
   
   • Size. Though the tortoise you bring home may be small and cute initially, tortoises can grow over two feet large after 5-10 years of care. If you're really committed to having one for a long time, then you have to consider if you can care for a tortoise of a large size. This comes down to whether you plan on only caring for the tortoise indoors or outdoors. If you plan for indoors, then a smaller tortoise would be more suitable than a larger one.
   • Environment. Tortoises generally don't do well in the cold, so if you live in a colder climate, you have to prepare to put your tortoise indoors for a part of the year (unless you keep it indoors the whole time). If this is the case, you should pick a tortoise that can do well indoors for at least part of the year. If you live in a very hot climate and want to keep the tortoise outside, this will be easier, but you may have to shade certain types of tortoises.
   • Price. Everyone thinks the Star tortoise looks amazing, but it can cost a pretty penny. When it comes to choosing your tortoise, you should consider how much money you want to spend.
2. Buy your tortoise from a reputable seller. It's important to purchase your tortoise from a seller that you respect, who has a history of making a successful sale and who can promise that you have been given the tortoise under healthy conditions. Avoid getting your creature at a reptile show, because this may make it likely that you'll buy him and won't be able to get in touch with the seller again. Ideally, your seller should guarantee that your tortoise should live for at least a few days, though it can be hard to go beyond that because there's no way he or she can check up on how you're taking care of him.
   
   
   
   • Find a seller who prides himself in customer service, whether you are going to a pet store or finding your creature online. If your seller says that he or she will be easy to contact after the sale is made, then it's more likely that you are making a solid transaction.
   • There are some legal restrictions on keeping or breeding some tortoises, especially Mediterranean breeds. If this is the case for the tortoise you want, then make sure the seller has a certificate from C.I.T.E.S. (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).^[3]
3. Make sure you can make a long commitment to your tortoise. If you're only around to take care of your tortoise for a year or two before you want to jump ship, then it may not be the ideal pet for you. Tortoises can live between 50 and 100 years, which means that your lovely pet may live longer than you. Don't let this scare you, though; just make sure you get a pet tortoise when you live in a stable environment and know you can find someone to take care of him if you have to move or leave.^[4]
   
   
   
   • You don't need to be settled in one place for 50 years, but you should be prepared for many years of care for the new addition to your home.

Nourishing and Handling Your Tortoise

1. Feed your tortoise. The type of food your tortoise eats will largely depend on the species of tortoise you've chosen. It's important to ask the source where you got the tortoise what you should make a part of its staple diet. In general, though, most tortoises eat mixed leafy greens, such as a typical "spring mix" you can find at any grocery store. When tortoises are babies, they need to eat softer foods, because their tiny jaws will find it hard to tear apart harder foods. Tortoises can eat most vegetables, such as broccoli, green beans, or kale, especially if you mix them in with the mixed greens, but it's important to know what your type of tortoise needs.
   
   
   
   • Your tortoise will also need a supplement to make sure that he or she grows healthy and strong. He will need a calcium supplement around twice a week, a multivitamin supplement two to three times a week, and a supplement with D3 if he is kept indoors and doesn't get any sunlight.
   • Some tortoises prefer dandelion leaves, celery, lettuce, and sometimes fruit. Grapes are a good option to try.
2. Provide your tortoise with water. It's important that your tortoise has enough water to stay hydrated and healthy. You can just pour some water in a shallow tray or saucer and sink it into the floor of the enclosure so that your tortoise can't flip it over. It should be shallow enough so that your tortoise can easily stand in it and can place its head in the water without being completely submerged.^[5]
   
   
   
   • Replace the water daily. Your tortoise should have its own bowl of water, whether it is outdoors or indoors.
3. Handle your tortoise with care. Never drop a tortoise; if their shell breaks, they will die. Never tap the shell of the tortoise, either. The shell is attached very closely to the tortoise's spine with only a minimal amount of tissue between bone and shell. Taps and knocks on the shell are very painful to the tortoise. Though you may be dying to hold your pet tortoise, you should try to take it easy on holding it, or letting others hold it, too much. This can stress out your favorite creature and lead to inactivity.
   
   
   
   • If there are small children around, explain to them that it would be better if they loved and cared for the tortoise from a distance. Too much handling can spook the tortoise.
4. Soak your baby tortoise in water a few times a week. Tortoises need to stay hydrated, especially when they are young. When you first bring home your tortoise, you should soak it in water a few times a week, so it feels fully hydrated, making sure to keep its head above water. Usually, after a tortoise is good and soaked, he will immediately begin to drink water. This will be a sign that everything is running smoothly. Remember that more isn't always more when it comes to soaking your tortoise. Every other day at most should be just fine.
   
   
   
5. Choose the type of shelter you'd like for your tortoise. Ideally, you should provide some outdoor shelter for your tortoise. Some people believe that it's inhumane to care for a tortoise only indoors. If you're really committed to having one, you should be prepared to have some outdoor shelter for it, unless it's a smaller tortoise or a variety that is really able to just stay indoors. If you're committed to having an indoor tortoise only, then you should do your research and pick a species that can handle this.^[6]
   
   
   
   • You can also mix and match, keeping your tortoise indoors for the colder months and letting it roam outdoors during the warmer months. You should be prepared for both types of housing.
   • See the sections below for learning the proper care for your tortoise, whether it is an outdoor or an indoor creature.

Caring for a Tortoise in an Indoor Shelter

1. Have adequate indoor housing. If you want to house your tortoise indoors, then you have to think about what kind of an enclosure you want, whether it's a glass aquarium or a terrarium. Just keep in mind that you should have at least 3 square feet available for a baby tortoise. A tank can work for a baby, but he will grow out of it pretty soon, and you'll need to make sure your creature has enough room to grow.
   
   
   
   • You can use glass, but tortoises get frustrated because they try to walk through the glass. You can tape paper to the outside of the tank to keep them from getting confused.
   • You can also use a plastic sweater box or a cement mixing tub for a baby tortoise. They have the bonus of having foggy sides that won't frustrate tortoises as much as glass.
   • The enclosure doesn't have to be too high — just a few inches of height will do.
2. Provide your indoor tortoise with adequate lighting. If your tortoise is outdoors, then you don't need to worry about him or her having enough light. But if your favorite creature is indoors, then you'll need to make sure he gets enough light, and therefore Vitamin D, to be healthy. Here are some things to consider as you find proper lighting for your tortoise:^[7]
   
   
   
   • You should either use a desk lamp, which should have at least 100W of power for heating, and another UV light for your tortoise to bask in, or even a single mercury-vapor lamp to provide your critter with both heat and light.
   • The lamp's temperature should be between 30-35°C, but this changes, depending on the species.
   • Make sure you position the lamp correctly so your tortoise is able to soak up the heat while also taking some breaks.
   • Not only is providing your tortoise with heat and light essential to his or her health, but it's also helpful for your creature's happiness. They actually love basking in the light!
3. Have the proper substrate for your tortoise. The substrate will cover the floor of your tortoise's environment and will need to have proper composition to ensure the health and safety of your tortoise. The most important thing, whether your tortoise is outdoors or indoors, is to make sure that it is not overly moist, or your tortoise will be prone to infection. It should be well-drained while not being completely dry. The substrate depends on the species of tortoise you have. Here are some things to consider:^[8]
   
   
   
   • If your creature needs mid to high humidity, then your substrate needs to be able to hold moisture well. It should include things like coconut coir, sphagnum moss, or peat moss, in this case.
   • If your creature needs a more dry climate, then the substrate should include dry coconut coir, grass clippings, or shredded paper. You can also use flat newspaper for a low-cost option. However, shredded paper is better because it offers a more exciting environment.
   • Avoid using sand in the substrate, because tortoises may eat it and cause great harm to themselves.
   • When your tortoise is outdoors, the substrate doesn't matter as much, as the natural environment should be suitable. You can add some peat moss to the environment, for additional stimulation. Just make sure that anything you add to the substrate is free of chemicals or pesticides.

Caring for Your Tortoise Outdoors

1. Create a protective barrier for your tortoise. Having your tortoise outdoors during normal temperatures is ideal for your creature. However, you can't just place your tortoise out in the yard and let him or her do whatever he or she wants. Instead, you'll need to have an escape-proof barrier so that he stays within his perimeter. You can use concrete blocks that are mortared together or painted or sealed wood walls.
   
   
   
   • Your tortoise will try to burrow under or dig in to the corners of their enclosure, so it should be nice and secure. If your tortoise burrows, you can add a wire mesh below the surface of the barrier to keep him safe.
2. Provide shelter for your tortoise. You'll need some kind of shelter for your tortoise to make it feel safe, and to provide some shelter from the heat, the rain, or other elements that may be in the way. You want to keep your tortoise nice and warm and to keep it from overheating as well. Ideally, you should make a hide box for your creature, which will be where he sleeps and weathers the climates. You can make it out of wood and cover it with a few inches of sand, as well as a heating element for the cold weather, if needed.
   
   
   
   • First, just dig a large hole. You can place a plywood barrier inside the floor.
   • Add a top to the hide box to shelter your tortoise.
   • Cover the shelter with dirt and soil.
3. Provide plants for your tortoise. You should keep an adequate amount of plants around for your outdoor tortoise so that he or she can eat and feel secure throughout the day. Look into the diet of your tortoise to see which plants are and are not toxic. In general, many tortoises will eat broadleaf weeds such as dandelions, any grasses, or clover.
   
   
   
4. Provide stimulation for your tortoise. Your tortoise should have an exciting environment to keep it active and busy. You can add some clump grasses to help your tortoise burrow, as well as to allow for some shade. You can add a few boulders to give your creature some privacy, as long as they aren't too steep. You can also add some small trees for shade and shelter and just for the environment to look nice.
   
   
   

Keeping Your Tortoise Healthy

1. Protect your tortoise from other creatures. If you're taking care of your tortoise outdoors, then you will have to take precautions to make sure it is safe from other predators, such as cats. If you have a dog, never allow it to be near the tortoise; even the gentlest dogs have been shown to attack tortoises without warning. Though it's impossible to keep your tortoise completely safe from birds, foxes, or other predatory creatures, try to keep it as protected as you can by having lots of shelter and places for your tortoise to hide, keeping its enclosure intact, and keeping an eye on the outside environment.^[9]
   
   
   
   • Some people recommend that you line a juvenile tortoise's home with wire mesh to protect it from pesky creatures.
2. Help keep your tortoise healthy if he closes his eyes. Many people think that something is wrong with a tortoise's eyes if he starts keeping them shut. In fact, this is rarely the case. If a tortoise keeps his eyes shut, it usually just means that something isn't right with him, and most of the time, that just means he is not as hydrated as he needs to be. If this is the case, soak him in a bit of water and cover up his shelter a bit to make the environment more moist if he's indoors. If this is a chronic problem, you can consider making your substrate more moist, or seeing a veterinarian if there is something indeed wrong with your favorite pet's eyes.
   
   
   
3. Help your tortoise stay active by meeting his basic needs. Though it's normal for baby tortoises to sleep for most of the day, if your critter is just completely inactive, then you have to start troubleshooting to locate the source of the problem. Here are some reasons why your creature may not be so active:
   
   
   
   • One of the most common reasons will be that your tortoise is too cold. Make sure that his enclosure is in a warm place relative to his environment. Cover it with wood or mulch or other materials to make it warmer if needed.
   • If your tortoise is indoors, then make sure he or she get enough light in general. Brighter lights help keep him active.
   • Make sure your baby tortoise is getting a regular soaking throughout the day. One reason he may be inactive is because he's not properly hydrated.
   • See if your tortoise is being handled too much. Though you may want to hold your tortoise and to let your ten best friends hold him, too, this might actually be scaring your favorite creature. Try to minimize the handling, especially in the beginning, so that your tortoise can feel comfortable — no pun intended — inside his own shell.
   • Make sure your tortoise is getting a balanced diet. Check to see that your mix of greens, veggies, and supplements is giving your pet everything he or she needs.
4. Keep your tortoise's shell firm. If your tortoise has a soft shell, then it's likely because he's not getting enough light. This is a rare condition for outdoor tortoises, but it can happen to indoor tortoises because it can be harder for them to have access to a steady light source. If your indoor tortoise has a soft shell, make sure that he or she is at least 8-10" from the UV light source, and that the bulb is changed after at least 9 to 12 months to remain fresh and active.
   
   
   

Warnings

• Don't drop your tortoise, as this may result in a broken shell and death.

Things You'll Need

• a nice hiding/sleeping place for them
• food and water
• a suitable container with air holes in the lid
• bedding for the pet container
• a heat lamp
• food

Related wikiHows

• How to Care of a Baby Tortoise
• How to Take Care of a Russian Tortoise
• How to Care for a Non Tropical Tortoise
• How to Care for a Hibernating Turtle

Sources and Citations

• http://www.tortoisecare.org/#Choosing_Your_Tortoise:
• http://www.tortoisetrust.org/Downloads/Taking_care_of_pet_tortoises_web.pdf
• http://howtocareforatortoise.com/tortoise-housing-2/
• http://www.tortoisetrust.org/care/care.html
• http://www.tortoisetrust.org/care/faq.html#water

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A mushroom with hallucinogenic properties was found growing at Buckingham Palace but no one suspects Queen Elizabeth II of cultivating the magic mushroom.

The environmental group Greenpeace has apologized to Peruvians upset by its stunt at the world-famous Nazca lines, which authorities say harmed the archaeological marvel.

Who knew that pet care could be such a lucrative business? Just as the year comes to an end, PetSmart announced it would sell itself for $8.7 billion to a private equity firm, fetching the title of largest private equity deal of 2014.

The New York Times reports that officials with PetSmart announced the gargantuan deal Sunday to sell itself to a group led by European-American investment firm BC Partners.

The sale comes just months after the retailer came under pressure from two hedge funds to explore a sale. Ultimately, BC Partners, which is a previous investor of Office Depot, along with several smaller firms, including a Quebec pension fund, won a months-long auction for the retailer.

Under the deal, BC Partners and its limited partners will pay about $83 a share in cash, about 6.8% higher than PetSmart’s closing Price on Friday, the Times reports.

PetSmart currently operates more than 1,300 stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, selling everything from pet toys, food and feature adoptable pets through local rescues.

“The question is, ‘Why haven’t there been more people interested in PetSmart?’” Raymond Svider, a managing partner of BC Partners, says in a statement. “The category of pet products has been growing in the U.S. and abroad consistently for a number of years.”

The times reports that the transaction is expected to close in the first half of next year, pending approval from shareholders and regulators.

PetSmart to Sell Itself to Investor Group for $8.7 Billion [The New York Times]

Three friends of an alleged victim of gang rape at a University of Virginia frat house say a magazine article wrongly portrayed them as uncaring students who were more concerned about their reputations than her well-being.

Protesters in D.C. join "National Day of Resistance" over police action.

Perhaps Javorick Alexander Moore has a really long Christmas card list. Or a lot of pen pals.

Three southern Indiana police officers who bought a homeless man a bus ticket home say "it was the right thing to do" after the man told them he was trying to get home.

News stories about “layaway angels,” people who stop by a retailer’s layaway counter and pay off the balances of strangers, became very popular during the holiday season of 2011. They’ve since become a recurring tradition, and this year we have mostly heard about people spending five-figure amounts to pay off everyone’s balance in a show of generosity.

This week, staff at the Toys ‘R’ Us in Bellingham, MA had the tedious but completely amazing task of calling layaway customers and letting them know it was time to pick up their purchases: they had been paid off in full by an anonymous stranger. The benefector, who gave out plenty of hugs at the store but didn’t provide her name. We choose to believe that she is, in fact, Santa. Toys ‘R’ Us confirmed that she paid around $20,000 to close out all of the store’s layaway accounts.

While she didn’t talk to the media, one store employee says that the woman said that making sure local children would have toys for Christmas would “help her sleep better at night.” One local mother was stunned, having put $50 worth of toys on layaway for her sons and struggling to make the payments. “I almost wanted to cry. It was only $50, but to me that’s a lot of money, and that someone would go and do that gave me chills,” she told the Milford Daily News.

Santa also lives in Ohio, where a man visited Walmart and paid off $15,000 worth of layaway accounts, asking to focus on accounts containing toys or other items for kids.

Toys ‘R’ Us is a popular store for layaway angels to visit, which makes sense. Another shopper in Massachusetts paid off the accounts of everyone standing in line behind him in the customer service line, which cost about $1,500.

You don’t need massive stacks of money to play Santa if doing this appeals to you: a few years ago, one Consumerist reader declared paying off one family’s layaway account to be the best $100 she had ever spent.

Touched by a ‘layaway angel’ [Milford Daily News]

Earlier this year, LEGO introduced a limited-edition set of minifig female scientists along with essential work equipment like a telescope and a dinosaur skeleton. They sold out quickly, and many female fans of LEGO and/or science were disappointed that the set wouldn’t become permanent. Just in time for Christmas, LEGO quietly put the set back up for sale, and they may be available permanently in the company’s retail stores.

The site says that the set will ship on December 21, but is available only in “limited quantities,” so hurry up if you want a miniature research institute of your very own. The more important piece of information on the page is the second sentence, which says:

It is coming soon to LEGO® Brand retail locations and is expected to be available within two weeks.

Could it be that the petition worked, and the Lego Research Institute will be a permanent institution? LEGO representatives didn’t get back to the New York Times, but it looks like the set will be revived for now. We might not be able to get them in time for Christmas, but life can’t be perfect.

Take it away, Jesse:

LEGO’s “Research Institute” Female Scientist Set Is Back In Stock And Going Fast! [The Mary Sue]

You just never know what might pop out of the small plastic bubble toy vending machines found at the front of many stores and restaurants. You could get a cute colorful dinosaur or a Nazi-themed plastic ring. The latter was reportedly the prize for a four-year-old at a Tulsa Family Dollar store earlier this week.

KOKI-TV reports the boy received a gold plastic ring adorned with an eagle sitting atop a small swastika after putting 25-cents into a toy vending machine at a local dollar store.

A quick search of the ring’s imprint shows that it appears to be reflective of the Nazi party’s official symbol, which also features an eagle grasping a wreath of laurels atop a swastika.

“We actually bought four things, and three of them were little dinosaurs or something,” the mother says. “And on the fourth one, it so happened this fell out.”

She tells the TV station that she always gives her son a quarter for the vending machine when the family goes shopping, but that she’s considering changing that practice.

“It was made just like the other rings they’ve got in there,” the mother says. “You can bend it up and shove it in here. So it was made for a vending machine. I just don’t understand why.”

The woman says she went to other Family Dollar stores in surrounding areas, but did not find the Nazi-thmeded ring in any other machines.

When KOKI visited the same Family Dollar location to find out how the ring ended up in the children’s toy machine, it found 10 to 15 additional rings waiting for purchase.

Officials with Family Dollar say they don’t maintain or stock the vending machine, but that they’d had issues with the third-party vendor in the past.

KOKI called a number located on the machine and the man who answered said the items inside the machine will be examined and removed in the next few days.

Child buys Nazi themed toy from vending machine for 25 cents [KOKI]

As the saying goes, when at first you succeed at feeding people taco fillings inside a shell made from a popular brand of chips, try it again and see if you can get more people to buy your food. At least, that must be a motto at Taco Bell, which could be following the success of the Doritos Locos line of taco fare with a new Fritos shell.

Business Insider spotted the inclusion of what appears to be a taco inside a bag of Fritos, a design often used by the company to advertise its Doritos Locos Tacos using corresponding Nacho or Cool Ranch bags.

The image appears in yesterday’s presentation by Yum! Brands to its investors. When BI asked about whether or not we can accept to see some Fritos Tacos Locos or whathaveyou, a Taco Bell spokesperson played coy, saying only, “We’re always innovating and testing new concepts.”

Fritos are a natural choice of chip for fast food snacking — though it was Subway, and not Taco Bell that used them in a crunchy chicken enchilada last year, The Bell features Fritos in its new Beefy Fritos burrito, which is exactly what it sounds like.

And as my esteemed colleague Kate Cox points out — aren’t ALL hard shells, in essence, Fritos shells? Corn tortillas all, with just extra salt on Fritos. Literal food for thought.

The Snuggie, a thin fleece blanket with sleeves, reached a special height of pop-culture relevance back in 2009, but they’ve never really gone away. (Though some may have dissolved into piles of Snuggie lint.) Sleeved blankets have remained on the market all this time, and now they’ve taken kind of a weird turn into costume territory. If you’ve dreamed of lounging on the couch while pretending to wear a tux, the new generation of Snuggies are for you.

They’ve also fixed some of the more obvious design flaws, adding pockets to store things, and a sash that helps you tie your Snuggie closed. Of course, adding a sash just makes the Snuggie resemble a backwards bathrobe even more.

Take Our Poll

Snuggie Store [Official Site]

Struggling theme park and Worst Company in America contender SeaWorld appears to be attempting to revamp its image – starting at the top by replacing its CEO.

Bloomberg Businessweek reports that current CEO Jim Atchison will leave his post effective January 15 as part of a new restructuring program.

Atchison – who won’t be leaving the company, but instead will be moved to vice chairman of the board – is being replaced by company chairman David D’Alessandro until a permanent replacement is named.

According to a statement from SeaWorld, the ousting is part of a “restructuring program across its entire 11-park enterprise” that will seek to “reduce duplication of functions and increase efficiencies.”

The decision by SeaWorld’s largest shareholder, Blackstone Group, to oust Atchison comes as the parks continue to record flat attendance and declining revenues. Bloomberg reports that attendance at the parks has been flat since 2008, with the most recent revenue down about 8%.

While there are surely a number of reasons for the park’s bleak performance, the company’s negative publicity surrounding the documentary Blackfish likely has something to do with it.

SeaWorld Dumps Its CEO: Don’t Just Blame Blackfish [Bloomberg]

Inside NoVA

Charges dropped in Nokesville auction cruelty case Inside NoVA Prosecutors this week dropped charges against a Nokesville auction owner who had been charged with animal cruelty. Larry Sams, owner of Cross States Stables on Va. 28 in Nokesville, had been scheduled to stand trial in Prince William General District ...

Therapy dogs help draw out reluctant readers Washington Post Third-grader Marylin Alvarez Lopez eagerly entered a quiet room at Haydon Elementary School in Manassas recently, where she was greeted by Paula Street and her King Charles spaniel, Kaddie. Marylin sat on the floor, opened her book, placed her hand ...

Ting is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), or a cell phone company that doesn’t own its own network of towers, but instead leases voice and data capacity from other carriers. We’ve been hearing about Ting for a while, mostly from contented customers. Until now, though, customers were limited to phones that were purchased from the carrier, or off-contract devices from the Sprint network. Starting next year, that will change.

Of course, there are plenty of MVNOs out there: more popular brands that you might recognize are Straight Talk and Virgin Mobile. The appeal of Ting for money-minded consumerist readers, though, is that while it has tiered data, voice, and texting plans, the company automatically switches the tiers around according to how much you actually use.

With a traditional phone plan, if you want 3 GB per month of data, you pay a set amount whether you reach that amount or not. If you go over 3 GB, you get charged for the overage, but you still have to pay the full amount if you only downloaded one tiny cat photo all month. Ting’s pricing scheme charges customers for different levels of voice minutes, text messages, and data, then automatically charges for the smallest bucket that covers their usage. Using more than a gigabyte, for example, leads to a $29 data bill. If you don’t use any phone minutes at all during that month, you pay $0 for your voice plan.

GSM compatibility will make it easier to use commercially available unlocked phones, as well as off-contract devices purchased from this country’s GSM carriers, AT&T and T-Mobile. While Ting is being sort of coy about who their GSM network buddy will be, clicking on the “Important Coverage Details” on their GSM coverage map offers disclaimers from T-Mobile. Indeed, CNET points out, it’s also the same coverage map that T-Mobile has on their site. It just isn’t magenta, and doesn’t cover Canada.

Since all data usage over 2 GB is billed by the megabyte, the service probably isn’t for mobile data hogs. For anyone else, these plans might work, especially if your phone usage varies erratically from one month to another.

Ting to offer service on a GSM network [Ting]

Not everyone has a name like “Jethro,” so it only makes sense that the guy who played Jethro Bodine on The Beverly Hillbillies would want to cash in on such a famous moniker. That’s why he’s ticked off right now at CBS, claiming the network breached a contract he had with it by allowing an Iowa restaurant chain to use the Jethro name and character.

Actor Max Baer Jr. played Jethro on the show about a family of hill dwellers who struck it rich and moved out to Califor-ni-a, and snagged a deal with CBS in 1991 allowing him to license the use of that fictional character for things like restaurants, hotels and casinos, he claims in a lawsuit against the network reported by The Des Moines Register.

But a popular chain of restaurants in Iowa has a secret deal with CBS and is now threatening Baer’s rights to the character and profits he could be making, his lawsuit claims, though it does not name Jethro’s BBQ as a defendant.

In April 2008 Jethro’s BBQ opened its first location, and was contacted by CBS claiming that the network owned the rights to the “Jethro” character from the show, as well as other themes that were being used in the restaurant.

So the two groups struck a deal out of court, with the restaurant making some tweaks to make it less like the show. The owner of the chain, which now has six locations, thinks this is the deal that Baer takes issue with in his suit, but he just can’t comment on its specifics.

“There is an agreement between CBS and myself,” he said. “It’s not a secret deal; we just can’t talk about it.”

The actor said in his complaint that he’s spent upwards of $1 million invested in different Jethro business ventures and paid CBS royalties for things like merchandise. But despite his licensing deal with CBS, the actor was “kept completely in the dark” about negotiations between CBS and the Des Moines restaurateur, his attorney said.

The lawsuit claims that CBS breached its contract, as well as three other separate claims. CBS hasn’t commented yet.

*Thanks for the tip, Joe!

‘Beverly Hillbillies’ actor sues CBS over Jethro’s BBQ [The Des Moines Register]

Medical bills account for nearly half of all collections notices on consumers’ credit reports, affecting more than 43 million Americans. Meanwhile, it’s been shown that medical billing is fraught with errors and many consumers sent to collections for these debts are penalized too harshly. A new federal rule hopes to reduce this overly negative impact of medical debt on credit reports.

In an effort to better address the challenges consumers face when it comes to medical debt, the CFPB announced, in conjunction with its new report [PDF], that major consumer reporting agencies will now be required to provide regular accuracy reports to the Bureau on how disputes from consumers are being handled.

“Access to this required reporting information on a regular basis will help us prioritize our work, and it will help us protect consumers even more effectively in this field,” Richard Cordray, CFPB director, says in a statement.

Because medical debts are often the result of unpredictable and costly events such as accidents and sudden illnesses, the CFPB believes they should be weighed differently from non-medical debts. After all, people choose to go into debt buying stuff they can’t afford, but they rarely choose to get an appendicitis that will end up costing them more than a luxury sports car.

Often the CFPB has found that consumers do not even know they owe medical debt until they get a call from the collections agency or they discover it on their credit report.

This occurs because in many cases if a medical bill goes unpaid after a certain amount of time, the medical provider may hand over the account to a third-party debt collector. And the majority of those collections items that end up on consumers’ credit reports are furnished to the credit reporting agencies by third-party debt collectors.

This system has been found to precipitate an ecosystem of errors and confusing processes for consumer disputes.

Complaints related to medical billing most often received by the CFPB involve claims from consumers that information furnished by these collectors to credit reporting agencies are inaccurate due to errors in billing or slow-moving insurance claims.

In fact, the CFPB reports that consumers identifying as having medical debt are more than twice as likely to claim that the debt was paid than consumers with other types of debt.

Today the CFPB took steps to ensure that these issues have less impact on consumers and that credit reporting companies are doing their part to ensure consumers’ records are as accurate as possible.

By requiring major credit reporting companies to provide regular accuracy reports to the Bureau as part of ongoing examinations, officials with the agency believe consumers’ credit reports will improve.

The reports will highlight key risk areas for consumers, including disputes filed with the credit reporting agencies. Some of the metrics in the accuracy report will include:

• Furnishers with the most overall disputes: If a credit reporting company continuously experiences an outsized number of consumer disputes about information from a particular furnisher, the CFPB expects the credit reporting agency to investigate, identify if there is a problem, and take appropriate action.

• Industries with the most disputes: The credit reporting agencies will have to list the top industries they are reporting on, the volume of information received from those industries, and the total number of disputes generated by those industries.

• Furnishers with particularly high disputes relative to their industry peers: For each industry named, the credit reporting agency must also name the top furnishers with the largest number of consumer disputes.

Officials with the CFPB say the new requirements are fundamental in indicating the risks consumers face when it comes to medical debt.

“If a credit reporting company has a furnisher that continuously experiences an outsized rate of consumer disputes relative to its peers, we expect the company to do something about it,” Cordray says. “We expect it to investigate the source of the disputes, identify any problems, and take necessary action. This may include declining to accept information from the troubled furnisher where that step is justified.”

While consumer groups applauded the steps taken by the CFPB on Thursday, they urge the agency to continue taking action against unfair medical debt collection practices.

Chi Chi Wu, staff attorney for the National Consumer Law Center called the CFPB’s action a good first step.

“The credit reporting system needs fundamental reform,” Wu says in a statement, “including better standards for accuracy and real, meaningful investigation of consumer disputes that don’t automatically defer to the debt collector or creditor in a dispute.”

Officials with the NCLC say the CFPB could further protect consumers by:

• examining the larger medical debt collection agencies;
• requiring debt collectors to give consumers a notice before placing or “parking” medical debt on their credit reports;
• require that consumers be given time to deal with insurance disputes or billing errors, or to apply for financial assistance or charity care, before a debt can be reported to a credit reporting agency;
• preventing damage to a consumer’s credit score from medical debts that are disputed or result from billing errors; and
• prohibiting debt collectors from dunning low-income consumers for inflated chargemaster prices.

Earlier today, we told you about the Harvard Business School professor who engaged in a lengthy back and forth with the owner of a couple of Boston-area restaurants over the issue of a $4 overcharge. Apparently the Internet didn’t side with the prof, who is now apologizing.

“Having reflected on my interaction with [the restaurant owner], including what I said and how I said it, it’s clear that I was very much out of line,” the academic writes in a statement posted on Boston.com. “I aspire to act with great respect and humility in dealing with others, no matter what the situation. Clearly I failed to do so. I am sorry, and I intend to do better in the future. I have reached out to Ran and will apologize to him personally as well.”

The restaurant owner, who clearly came out on top in the court of public opinion (though honestly, he should have offered to make the refund right away and his online menu should match the actual prices), issued a statement of his own today, thanking people from all around the world who voiced support for his business.

“I have received overwhelming support from Harvard graduates and the student body,” he writes. “I believe that one man’s actions should not be the burden of another. I just want to apologize to Harvard for all the negative association they have been linked with this ordeal. I also believe that something good can come out of all this situation.”

Last week, a federal court in Minnesota gave the go-ahead to a lawsuit filed against Target by several banks trying to claim damages from the massive 2013 payment systems breach. Now, some worry that the court’s decision could lead retailers to go with simpler, perhaps less secure, systems rather than risk missing a red flag on a more complicated one.

The concern, a few security and payment system experts tell the Christian Science Monitor, is that Target is being sued for its alleged failure to notice early signs of a breach that could have saved billions of dollars.

If the banks are successful, a hacked retailer could be held responsible for missing any blip on their security radar. The more complex and layered a system, the more blips, though many of them will be false alarms.

So might retailers be tempted to dumb down their alert systems so that they can later plead ignorance if a hack occurs?

“There is a huge security negative to this kind of ruling,” explains John Pescatore, director of emerging security threats at the SANS Institute. “It reinforces the ‘better not to know, than to know and not do anything’ [mindset]. For way too long that was used as a reason not to do vulnerability scanning or penetration testing – a huge mistake.”

Christopher Pierson, general counsel and chief security officer at online invoicing and payment platform Viewpost, says the ruling’s stance that negligence might exist just because a security-alerting service wasn’t used aggressively enough highlights a lack of understanding of how companies deploy new security technologies.

In many cases, he tells CS Monitor that companies’ security programs use multiple layers of defense against attacks.

When new systems are put into place they must first have time to gather information into what constitutes normal networking behavior. To do so, they are often introduced on a learning or passive mode.

Because the systems in place at major companies can generate millions of alerts each day, companies may limit the kind of response features used to minimize issues for consumers.

Pierson says that while monitoring network events and logs can enable better security, requiring companies to monitor all of their logs all of the time could harm their ability to operate in the first place.

While we could possibly see a smaller company choosing to not upgrade its system so that it could eventually claim “We did the best with what we had,” we don’t imagine any retailer — and certainly not a major, national chain — deliberately scaling back its alert system.

That would only put a bigger target on the retailer’s back, as it would demonstrate the company knew about — and had the means to deploy — a better system but deliberately opted to not do so.

It’s one thing for a home gardener to find out after the fact that his flimsy wire fence wasn’t enough to keep out the gophers. It’s another for a deep-pocketed farm to tear down a multi-leveled animal repellent system and put in a flimsy wire fence.

One lawyer we spoke to agrees, saying that a retailer could end up being hurt more by choosing to scale back its security.

Having an inadequate system in place purposefully to avoid liability is totally unacceptable and any company that does so should be penalized, the legal eagle tells Consumerist.

Target ruling raises stakes for cybersecurity vigilance [The Christian Science Monitor]

The fun thing about trends nowadays is that they often bring something back that either used to be popular, or never was. In any case, now that thrift stores are the place to go to find that gently-used look, it only makes sense that one business owner would dedicate the store’s entire stock to just one trendy thing: Ugly Christmas sweaters, of course.

Sure, some stores are going to charge a bit too much for an intentionally ugly item of clothing you’ll only wear once, but maybe you don’t want to pay just to rent it and give it back after your holiday shindig.

So if you’re near Fort Collins, CO, you’re in luck, as the appropriately named Ugly Christmas Sweater store is now open for business and sells Ugly Christmas Sweaters and that is ALL she wrote.

When the store opened it had 4,000 sweaters in stock, with prices ranging from the very modest $3 up to $43, reports CBS Denver. The owner says she’s now selling about 150 sweaters every day.

She got the idea after working at another thrift store and seeing that people really, really liked buying UCSs. So she planned this summer, washed and hot glue-gunned stuff, then opened up in the fall. She has plans to expand to Denver and Boulder, to spread the ugly joy there.

“I like risk,” she said, “And thought, ‘I’m going to do it,’ and I did it.”

Her employees sound like they’re having fun as well, though it might be tougher to stay in the holiday company of those sweaters once July hits, hot and sweaty.

“You immediately get a laugh because you look at someone’s sweater and you’re like, ‘Wow, that’s actually more hideous than mine,’ ” one employee joked.

Exactly the point, friend. Exactly the point.

Fort Collins Shop Capitalizes On The Ugly In Christmas Sweaters [CBS Denver]

The thing about eating food that’s been cooked in booze, is that it’s been cooked. And because you usually cook with heat, any alcohol that started out in that liquid is gone by the time you eat it. But basic science didn’t keep one Wisconsin driver from brewing up a boozy food excuse for failing a field sobriety.

Because fried fish and beer go together like um, delicious fried fish and delicious fried beer, I am unsurprised that a Wisconsin man went for the excuse of beer-battered fish affecting his driving ability. But yeah, the cops didn’t go for that excuse, reports Channel3000.com.

A man suspected of his 10th offense of operating while intoxicated was stopped by police after a deputy saw his truck cross the center line of a highway, and that it had a broken tail light.

When he noticed a smell of alcohol on the 75-year-old man’s breath, the officer administered a field sobriety test. That came up with a result of 0.062, well over the 0.02 limit the suspect had to be under as part of his previous convictions.

Deputies say the man denied he’d been drinking any booze, but said instead that he’d been eating beer-battered fish earlier that night. And the fish were drunk. And everyone had to drink a beer before taking a bite and the oxygen in the room was pumped fool of booze molecules. Those last reasons are also made up, because I made them.

He was also cited for third-offense operating while his license is revoked, having open intoxicants in a vehicle and operating left of center in the incident, and is due in court in January.

Deputies: Man suspected of 10th OWI says he ate beer battered fish [Channel3000.com]

While McDonald’s customers will soon be getting the option to build their own burgers, the fast food chain’s menu is going to be shrinking a bit despite that new feature. Eight items will be hacked from the menu starting in January, and the extra value meal menu will be narrowed down from the 16 current options to 11 combinations.

Mickey D’s is looking to speed things up in the service line, the company said at its investor meeting today, according to CNBC.com.

It’s not like you’re going to miss [fill in your favorite item here, which may or may not be getting cut], McDonald’s says, as four out of five of its sales come from a small set of items on the menu.

“It helps operationally yes, but it simplifies the menu as well,” said CEO Don Thompson on the call.

As for which items are going bye-bye, it seems no one knows that information yet (and it could vary by franchise) — Consumerist reached out to McDonald’s to see if the company was willing to share who’s on the execution list, and we’ll let you know when we hear back.

McDonald’s to cut down menu items to boost speed [CNBC.com]

Yesterday, police in Sweden raided file-sharing mega-site The Pirate Bay and confiscated its servers and computers, taking it offline and leaving lots of people with partially downloaded files. While it’s not outside the realm of possibility that the Bay could be rebuilt and brought back to life, one of the people who spent time in jail for his involvement with the site says it’s time to say farewell.

Peter Sunde was one of the co-founders of The Pirate Bay and for years was the public face of the site as it fought fought and appealed charges of promoting copyright infringement. In 2009, he and three others at the site were convicted.

After unsuccessfully attempting to appeal his case, Sunde managed to avoid serving his sentence for two years before finally being put behind bars in May 2014. He was released just last month, and rather than call for TPB to rise again, he’s admitting that maybe it’s outlived its original purpose.

In response to yesterday’s news, Sunde wrote on his blog that this raid is very different from the first time that authorities clamped down on the Bay in 2006.

“That time, a lot of people went out to protest and rally in the streets,” writes Sunde. “Today few seem to care. And I’m one of them.”

The site turned 10 years old in 2013, and Sunde said the original idea had been to shut it down when it reached that point.

“Instead… there was a party in [its] ‘honour’ in Stockholm,” he writes. “It was sponsored by some sexist company that sent young girls, dressed in almost no clothes, to hand out freebies to potential customers. There was a ticket price to get in, automatically excluding people with no money. The party had a set line-up with artists, scenes and so on, instead of just asking the people coming to bring the content. Everything went against the ideals that I worked for during my time as part of TPB.”

Additionally, Sunde says the site had failed to keep up with the times, with the operators who controlled TPB refusing to update.

“The site was ugly, full of bugs, old code and old design,” he gripes. “It never changed except for one thing – the ads. More and more ads was filling the site, and somehow when it felt unimaginable to make these ads more distasteful they somehow ended up even worse.”

And while the Bay is gone, Sunde acknowledges there are still plenty of other ways for people to share files over the Internet.

“But from the immense void that will now fill up the fiber cables all over the world, I’m pretty sure the next thing will pan out,” he concludes. “And hopefully it has no ads for porn or viagra. There’s already other services for that.”

[via TorrentFreak]

Animal cruelty charges thrown out for Bristow, Va., farm owner Washington Post Despite county staff's testimony about the injury, infection and parasites that a pitbull named Smiley suffered on a Prince William County farm, a judge decided that the dog may have been neglected, but was not abused, and threw out the charge of ...

Fairfax County Animal Watch Washington Post No incidents were reported by the Animal Control Division of the Fairfax County Police Department. For information, call 703-246-2253. FAIRFAX CITY. The following incidents were reported by the animal control section of the Fairfax City Police Department. and more »

Crews worked carefully Thursday to remove a time capsule dating back to 1795 from the granite cornerstone of the Massachusetts Statehouse, where historians believe it was originally placed by Revolutionary War luminaries Samuel Adams and Paul Revere among others.

Congress is poised to make an end-run around the Endangered Species Act with a legislative rider on a massive spending bill that would delay protections for several struggling bird populations in the Western U.S.

A former Rotary Club president arranged to have his wife killed because his marriage was colliding with his desire to indulge in bondage and masochism with other women, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday at the conclusion of a long trial that revealed a secret life in suburban Detroit.