pileofcrapola

Man's best friend is seen as anything but in Iran, where city workers gun down strays and conservatives view pet dogs as a corrupting Western influence. But in a rare animal shelter in the countryside west of Tehran, hundreds of lucky pups have found mercy, and a growing number of Iranians are learning to love them.

What’s the worst thing you can see in the rearview mirror? Police lights flashing as a cop tells you to pull over (that or an avalanche/tornado/mob of goblins chasing you). So for Michigan drivers who stopped for the long arm of the law realized they were getting a treat instead of a ticket from sneaky Santa police, Christmas came extra early.

As part of an effort called the Uplift Someone Christmas Initiative by a Christian-based television network called UPtv, police officers in Lowell, MI have been pulling drivers over for routine things, minor traffic violations that officers usually don’t bother to stop people for, reports WZZM.

Here’s how it works: While the cops are talking to drivers about whatever excuse they give for puulling them over, they chat’em up and ask what they want for Christmas. A UPtv team waits at a nearby Meijer with a radio and then runs to buy and wrap the right gift within 10 to 15 minutes.

Then the officer hands over a wrapped gift instead of a ticket, and we all get to see the reactions in the campaign’s video — delight, relief and yes, some people cried.

“Most of the contact the police officers have with the general public is on a traffic stop and you can find a lot out about that person in that 10 to 15 minute window, whether they’re having a good day, a bad day, or a horrible day,” Lowell’s police chief explains in the video. “And then we got this idea: what if we could change that person’s day in real time? What if we could change that person’s day right now?”

All in all, officers pulled the Secret Santa prank on about 50 drivers for the video, resulting in 30 presents getting handed out. The most expensive? A laptop and Xbox console.

And no one got a ticket, to boot.

VIDEO: Lowell police surprise drivers with Christmas presents [WZZM]

Let’s be clear: There are many things in life I would be willing to try, that at first sound horrifying. Like talking to strangers on the subway before I’ve had any coffee and after I’ve had no sleep, maybe I could manage that someday. But eating a still squirming octopus? That is not on the list. Luckily for those of you who would like to try something that I imagine feels like internal strangulation, someone else is on the job already to show you how.

Vice’s Munchies has a video showing how it’s done in South Korea, where the practice of consuming a live cephalopod piece by piece as it’s wriggles is not such a crazy idea for most folks.

If you’re worried about what the octopus feels during this whole thing, it’s probably best not to watch (or to read Munchies’ interview with a cephalopod expert about the practice, shudder/no thanks).

And it goes without saying, if you’re squeamish at the sight of moving food, probably don’t watch either.

Are you ready? Take a deep breath BECAUSE IT MIGHT BE YOUR LAST IF YOU DO THIS WRONG (kidding, mostly!);

It’s not just for health nuts anymore — grains like quinoa and spelt are now the norm, and General Mills wants to take advantage of that shift in consumers’ tastes with a new “Ancient Grains” Cheerios cereal that includes those ingredients, as well as other ingredients with funny names you used to never know.

Everything is different now that we want healthy stuff to eat, thus, General Mills’ hopes that the new version of Cheerios — with quinoa, Kamut wheat and spelt, along with oats, of course — will be right up shoppers’ aisles. Just click those links if you still don’t know what the cool grains are these days.

“They’re keeping their ears attuned to what’s hot and trendy,” author Topher Ellis, who co-wrote The Great American Cereal Book: How Breakfast Got Its Crunch told NPR’s The Salt. And what’s hotter and trendier these days than spelt?

Adding the word “ancient” into the mix conjures up all sorts of mystery around these grains, a cachet that could help Cheerios get a new groove in today’s health-conscious culture.

Start keeping your eyes peeled for Ancient Grains to hit shelves in January.

Fringe No More: ‘Ancient Grains’ Will Soon Be A Cheerios Variety [The Salt]

One of the worst things a restaurant can do when it learns it’s overcharged a customer is to shrug it off and say “Oh, we’ll get around to fixing that.” This is especially true when that customer is a Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard.

Boston.com has the very detailed story of how a simple case of being overcharged $4 by a Boston-area Chinese eatery resulted in a string of increasingly tense e-mails involving threats of legal and regulatory action.

It all began when the customer noticed that the prices on his receipt didn’t match the prices listed on the website for the restaurant. Each of the four items he cited was posted at $1 less than what he was charged. So he sent off an e-mail with this information to the restaurant’s owner.

Rather than offer an immediate refund of the $4 — which seems reasonable given that the total bill was well over $40 — the owner’s response was to admit that the prices listed on the website had been “out of date for quite some time.” And instead of that refund, he offered to send the customer an updated menu.

Bad idea.

The Harvard prof. alleged in his reply that the restaurant was in violation of state consumer protection laws that allow for trebled damages; and so he requested that he receive a refund of $12 be issued to his credit card or that a check for that amount be sent to his home.

Things only got worse when the restaurant offered to issue a refund, but only for $3.

“It strikes me that merely providing a refund to a single customer would be an exceptionally light sanction for the violation that has occurred,” writes the professor. “To wit, your restaurant overcharged all customers who viewed the web site and placed a telephone order… You did so knowingly, knowing tha tour web site was out of date and that consumers would see it and rely on it… You don’t seem to recognize that this is a legal matter and calls for a more thoughtful and far-reaching resolution.”

He then claims that he’s referred the situation to the relevant local authorities to “compel your restaurant to identify all consumers affected and to provide refunds to all of them.”

The professor agreed to accept whatever refund was offered, but “without prejudice to my rights as provided by law,” meaning he wasn’t giving up any future legal claim he might have for damages.

In response, the restaurant owner writes that he will indeed refund the $12, but only after he’s been advised that this is the proper thing to do by the authorities. He also promises to have the site’s menu prices fixed.

But then a subsequent e-mail explains that, after getting legal advice from a third party, the restaurant will not be honoring that refund request as “we are covered and protected” by language on the site that says pricing may vary by location.

To which the professor replies that he doesn’t know of any disclaimer that can allow a company to knowingly charge higher-than-published prices for an extended period of time.

There is then some dispute about whether or not there are multiple menus for different locations and which one the professor was using for his pricing comparison.

And then the restaurant owner asked a question he shouldn’t have.

“You seem like a smart man, but is this really worth your time?”

“You’re right that I have better things to do,” responds the professor. “If you had responded appropriately to my initial message — providing the refund I requested with a genuine and forthright apology — that could have been the end of it… Instead, you’re making up excuses such as the remarkable but plainly false suggestion that I was on the wrong web site. The more you try to claim your restaurant was not at fault, the more determined I am to seek a greater sanction against you.”

Systematic overcharging — whether intentional or inadvertent — can be a serious problem for a small business. Here in the Philadelphia area, a South Jersey pizzeria was recently accused of overcharging customers who used prepaid cards on a daily basis for several months.

But first you have to get people to listen to you. The Harvard prof says he’s alerted the local authorities about his dispute with the restaurant but doubts they’ll take action. He could pursue a civil action on behalf of all the restaurant’s customers who ordered based on the prices listed on the website but says he hasn’t decided whether to go that route.

More than 150 cattle valued at about $350,000 have been reported missing in southeastern Idaho, and authorities suspect modern-day cattle rustling as beef prices have soared.

Prosecutors will drop attempted murder charges against a mother charged with trying to kill her three children by driving them into the ocean and she will plead not guilty by reason of insanity to child abuse, her attorney said Tuesday.

Most malls are crowded with harried holiday shoppers now, but White Flint Mall in Rockville is nearly silent, and a bit creepy.

One of the two most important precautions a person can take is to identify two ways out of every room in their home .

Two months ago, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Integrity Staffing Solutions c. Busk et al., concerning the question of whether employees at a warehouse–an Amazon distribution center, in this case–should be paid for the time that they spend waiting for security checks when they leave work. The Supremes issued a unanimous decision earlier than expected, and they say that security checks should not be considered part of the job at a distribution center.

The original lawsuit was a class action filed against Integrity Staffing, a company that Amazon contracts to recruit and pay warehouse workers. The two lead plaintiffs, employees of Amazon distribution centers in Nevada, claimed that the process of waiting and submitting to a search for stolen goods took half an hour each day when they left work, and that since this was a mandatory part of their jobs, they should be paid for it.

The Supreme Court reversed a federal appeals court decision declaring that workers should receive overtime pay for security screenings. While employees are searched for the benefit of the company (in this case, Amazon), having their belongings X-Rayed is not part of their job duties. While eliminating the screenings could lead to “shrinkage” problems for Amazon, waiting in security lines is not part of the warehouse workers’ duties.

Opinion analysis: No overtime pay for after-work security check [SCOTUSblog]

Current and former owners of nearly 350,000 Nissan vehicles could be on the receiving end of a reimbursement check after the car company agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit involving vehicle defects that caused brakes to suddenly fail.

Reuters reports that if the settlement is approved, customers can expect to receive reimbursements between $20 and $800 each.

The agreement, which was filed December 5, affects current and former owners of approximately 350,000 model year Nissan Armadas, Infiniti QX56s or certain Nissan Titans.

The settlement would resolve the a 2011 lawsuit against Nissan that claimed a problem with an electrical component could cause the brakes to fail without warning.

Plaintiffs in the case sought reimbursement for monetary losses, including expenses incurred for replacement and repairs, but did not include claims for physical injury, Reuters reports.

Under the settlement, owner reimbursement would be based on the vehicle’s mileage.

While the filing did not estimate how much Nissan would pay overall, it did reveal that the company would not oppose up to $3.45 million in legal fees and expenses for the plaintiff’s lawyers.

Nissan settles class-action lawsuit claiming faulty brakes [Reuters]

What’s on your wish list this holiday season? Without even looking, we’re guessing that clothing, home electronics, fitness equipment, and computers are on lots of folks’ lists. But if you’re looking to actually save money on these items, maybe it’s best to wait until after Dec. 25 to open your gifts.

This is according to DealNews, which calls out all of these popular product types as items that will be less expensive after the holidays.

“Apparel is the one item you absolutely shouldn’t buy before Christmas,” writes DealNews, which points out that nearly half of all after-Christmas sales are clothing-related, and that these are often the deepest clothing discounts you’ll see all year. This rule seems to apply to everything from basic stuff you’d buy at Old Navy to luxury pieces you’ll still pay a lot for at Brooks Brothers and Betsey Johnson.

And while exercise equipment might seem like a great gift for someone looking to stick to that new year’s weight-loss resolution, you will probably do a better job of sticking to your resolution to save money if you wait until January, as stores traditionally slash prices in these cold winter months.

That first week of January, when most people are just trying to make it through the work week, knowing they won’t have time off or anything to celebrate for months, the entire consumer electronics world (including a trio of Consumerist writers) will be looking at all the fancy new TVs, computers, dishwashers, and gadgets at International CES in Las Vegas.

And just as Samsung, Sony, LG, and everyone else unleashes their new lines for the coming year, many stores will begin slashing prices on their current stock to make room. So this is generally a good time to save on computers and appliances. Of course, everyone knows by now that the best deals on big-ass TVs isn’t until after the Super Bowl in February.

The post-holiday months are also a time for furniture stores to start clearing out inventory in advance of the new lines. So if you’re loved one wants a new couch or dining room table, ask them how much more they’ll love you when you can get that gift at 60% off.

For more on post-holiday sales, read the full story at DealNews.com.

Maybe you were kid-free in 2012, and last year your wee one was just a perfect angel when it came time to visit Santa Claus at the mall for that traditional photo opportunity. But if your kid freaked out at the sight of St. Nick or had a meltdown when faced with a costumed Frozen character, this year is gonna be yours.

For example, our very own Kate Cox wondered if her 15-month-old daughter and delight of the Consumerist team Miranda would face that bowl fully of jelly and cackle… or quail.

She quailed. Oh, did she quail.

“She liked Santa when he came through the line and said hi to the kids there. She just didn’t like his lap,” Kate says of Miranda’s first-ever visit to Santa. “Happily, she recovered as soon as I picked her up again.”

Here’s what we want: A photo of your kid on Santa’s lap with a look that reminds you of the first time you ever had a run-in with the big guy that ended in tears for one or the both of them. We aren’t hoping your kids flip out, not ever, but if he or she does it while on Santa’s lap, why not share it with the world? Or if Santa isn’t your kid’s choice, any holiday costumed character will do.

To send in your photos (the larger the better!), here’s how you go about it:

1. Attach it in email with the subject line SCARY SANTA
2. Include your child’s name and age in the body of the email, along with any anecdotes about the experience.
3. Send it to tips@consumerist.com.

Please note, you need to be the child’s parent for your photo submission to be published, or we’ll have to get permission directly from the parents if you’re someone’s uncle or aunt. Gotta prove that stuff.

Then we’ll all wait with bated breath for Christmas to see the fruits of your mall excursion efforts so we can get jolly.

Imagine you’re on the hunt for a new, affordable apartment in a big, expensive city. You’ve spent all day going from place to place, hoping to find one that even slightly resembles what the rental agent promises. Then you go check out a possible pad, only to find out there is an operational, pop-up Burger King inside.

That’s exactly what happened to home-seekers in Madrid who unwittingly stepped into a “surprise!” marketing campaign for BK Spain’s new home delivery service.

The agency responsible for the stunt tells AdWeek’s AdFreak that it took three days to put together the “Whopper Apartment” in Madrid. A rep says that crew members had to lug the entire restaurant — including a 660 lb. counter — piece by piece up to the third-floor apartment because there was no elevator.

To ensure that enough people showed up, the agency listed the Whopper Apartment for about half of what it would go for no the current rental market. And it worked, with about 800 people calling to make appointments in just five days.

And when they showed up, the tease continued, with a (presumably fake) agent showing them all the apartment’s many fine features before hitting them with the Whopper whammy in the kitchen.

While it makes for an amusing video, and the folks were actually treated to free Burger King food, I can imagine some people were a little sore that this dream listing was just a marketing campaign.

In the end, the apartment did find a new tenant, but at market price and sans the BK counter.

It’s one thing to see your fellow passenger behaving badly on a commercial flight, despite the fact that many travelers are used to flying and therefore should know better than to cause a ruckus. But it’s another thing for an executive of an airline to pitch a fit over (allegedly) improperly served nuts that delayed her flight late last week, prompting her now to resign.

Cho Hyun-ah, the daughter of Korean Air Lines’ chairman Cho Yang-ho as well as the vice president in charge of cabin services at the airline, reportedly ordered the head of the cabin crew off the plane at JFK Airport in New York on Friday, for serving bagged macadamia nuts instead of nuts on a plate, reports the Associated Press.

Cabin crew are supposed to ask first if passengers want nuts, in case they have allergies, and then serve the nuts on a plate and not in a bag.

The executive, whose two siblings are in executive positions as well, resigned today amid criticism from South Korea over her bad behavior appearing to some as another example of the moneyed elite acting out. Korea Air had pointed out earlier that her behavior was part of her job, while apologizing for delaying the flight and inconveniencing passengers.

Korean Air did confirm that the flight was delayed 20 minutes over the nut incident, but said that the decision to deplane the crew member was the flight captain’s choice to make.

Nuts or nothing! Korean Airlines executive delays flight over first-class service spat [Associated Press]

In our December recall roundup, bodybuilding supplements contain steroids, caramel-filled chocolate bites have peanut butter in them, and fungus-contaminated probiotic powder had a horrible, tragic result. Also, maybe people should reconsider this whole thing where we buy commercial bean sprouts.

Our monthly Recall Roundups have grown so expansive that we’ve had to separate them into two separate posts: one for consumer goods, and one for consumables.

If you have any of these listed items in your pantry, refrigerator, or freezer, first check the varieties and flavors against the ones listed on the recall site or press release, then check expiration date or lot numbers.

When there’s a match, don’t panic! If an item is listed as having undeclared walnuts and you’re not allergic to walnuts, for example, you don’t have to do anything at all. You can keep the item, eat it, not eat it, or return it to the store or the manufacturer for your own peace of mind.

Items that may be contaminated with pathogens or foreign objects are worrisome for everyone, and you should return them to the retail store where you bought them, or contact the company for a refund and further instructions.

DESSERTS AND SNACKS
Safeway Select French Salted Caramel (Fleur De Sel) Ice Cream: Undeclared peanuts. The ice cream is supposed to have caramel cups, but has peanut butter cups instead.
Abdallah Candies Holiday Caramel Bites: Undeclared peanuts. A customer found a peanut butter bite in place of a caramel bite.
Ciao Bella Dark Cocoa Sorbetto: May contain undeclared dairy.
Whole Foods Vegan Pumpkin Pies (Southwestern U.S.): Undeclared walnuts.
Private Selection Denali Extreme Moose Tracks Ice Cream: May contain undeclared peanuts. Sold at grocery stores in the Kroger family.

STAPLES
Lundberg Eco-Farmed and Organic Brown Rice Flour: Possible Salmonella contamination. Affected flour was sold in 25-pound bulk bags and may have been sold in the bulk foods section of retail stores.

VEGETABLES
Henry’s Farm Soybean Sprouts: Possible Listeria contamination.

BEVERAGES
Wake Up Weasel Instant Coffee – May contain undeclared milk and soy.

PACKAGED FOODS
Open Nature Chile Cheese Enchiladas: Possible Salmonella contamination in the cilantro.
HyVee Mozzarella Cheese Sticks: May contain undeclared soy flour, yellow #5 and yellow #6.
Auntie Anne’s, Nathan’s, City Line, and other brands of frozen pretzel-wrapped hot dogs: Undeclared soy.

CONDIMENTS AND SPICES
Ortega and Las Palmas Taco Seasoning Products and Dinner Kits: Undeclared peanuts or almonds

SUPPLEMENTS
Forever Beautiful Bee Pollen: Contains undeclared drugs that are not approved for use in the United States. Specifically, Sibutramine (Meridia) and Phenolphthalein (a laxative.)
ABC Dophilus Powder: May contain Rhizopus oryzae, a fungus that can cause infections in humans. The FDA says that a Mucormycosis infection traced to this product caused the death of a premature infant in Connecticut. People with weakened immune systems are especially susceptible.
Chaotic Labz Mayhem Dietary Supplement: Contains undeclared corticosteroid and antihistamine drugs, dexamethasone and cyproheptadine.

FISH
Acme 4oz. Smoked Nova Salmon: Possible Listeria contamination. The affected lot was distributed to Giant Food, which has supermarkets in Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

PET FOOD
Evo Grain Free Turkey & Chicken Formula Dry Food and Grain Free Ferret Food: They are deficient in vitamins and contain excess minerals.

DAIRY
Various Lacteos Santa Martha cheese products: May contain Listeria monocytogenes.

MEAT
Ranchers Legacy Ground Beef Products: Possible contamination with E. coli O157:H7

The mistletoe drones deployed in TGI Friday’s restaurants are supposed to be flying ambassadors of happiness and love, not weapons of destruction. Yet that’s exactly what happened to a photographer who visited a restaurant with a reporter last week to capture the restaurant’s two drones in action. A smaller, 10-inch drone was supposed to land in the reporter’s hand, but instead flew into the photographer’s face, cutting her nose and chin.

Regular customers shouldn’t be in any danger: according to the company’s corporate headquarters, diners are not supposed to touch the drones, so the risk of them flying into another customer’s face is very low. No customers, employees, or journalists have been injured by drones at any of the company’s other mistletoe drone events.

“[T]his thing cut off skin on my nose, cut my chin, and got caught in my hair, spinning & spinning,” the photographer, Georgine Benvenuto, posted on Facebook. “Not a toy I would buy for a child this year or any year…”

Sounds more scary than cheery. The team from Brooklyn Daily and the photographer blame each other. The operator blames the reporter for flinching when the drone was about to land in her hand, which he says sent it careening into her colleagues face. The photographer, in turn, blames the drone operator for thinking it was a good idea to land a toy with whirling blades in someone’s hand to begin with.

Drone strike! Our photographer injured by TGI Friday’s mistletoe copter [Brooklyn Daily]

Breakfast cereals are the perfect food category for humanity: just about everyone has at least one that they like. They’re great at any time of day, as dessert, or even as a snack. Recently, news broke about two cereals that are hitting shelves: one is new, and the other is not so new. Both sound magical.

First, late last week we learned that Cinnamon Toast Crunch is re-introducing French Toast Crunch, a sweet cereal popular in the ’90s. It disappeared from store shelves in 2006, except in Canada. Obsessed fans could order it from there when they were craving the stuff, but that takes serious dedication.

People who were young then are really, really excited about this news. General Mills says that it was “overwhelmed” with requests to bring the cereal back, and the target market for this cereal happens to be in their twenties now: young enough to post constantly about their favorite brands to social media, but old enough that they are now able to afford their own sugary cereals.

The other cereal that we learned about is holiday-themed and very tempting. The problem: Taylor over at The Impulsive Buy assures us that it is terrible. This confection is a sugar cookie edition of the classic cookies-for-breakfast provider Cookie Crisp, but with red and green sprinkles. Taylor points out that if you’re going to have cookies for breakfast, go all the way and bake or buy your own cookies instead.

REVIEW: Limited Edition Holiday Sprinkles Cookie Crisp Cereal [The Impulsive Buy]

A year after the combination potty/iPad stand took home an award for Worst Toy of the Year, an app from BabyFirst and AT&T U-Verse that your youngsters could use while pottying on last year’s winner has been crowned the worst for 2014.

Beating out impressively depressing contenders like a Girl Scout Barbie and a DIY mini-mall, BabyFirst’s U-verse App was selected as the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood’s TOADY winner for the worst toy to be dumped on kids this calendar year.

The app, which was launched earlier this year, allows kids to “draw” on their iPads and iPhones (because all children should be in possession of expensive electronics) and have their creations appear on their TV screen.

Voters were not won over by claims that the app encourages children to be creative, saying it’s just a way to introduce more glowing screens to kids at an even earlier age.

“While there’s no evidence that even one screen benefits babies, training them to split their attention between two screens is absurd—and potentially harmful,” explains CCFC Executive Director, Dr. Susan Linn.

“It’s insidious,” says one parent who voted for the app. “It seems creative and interactive, but it’s not the kind of creativity and interactivity that developing babies need.”

While the BabyFirst app had the most votes (33%) of all nominees, it didn’t get a majority, indicating that voters had a difficult time selecting which of the five contenders most deserved the TOADY.

The Girl Scout Barbie came in second place with 23%, followed by the miWorld Mini Mall sets (19%), the Cartoon Network Anything app (13%), and then the LeapBand smartwatch for kids by LeapFrog, with 11%.

To we consumers, it feels like a store’s physical locations and their website are, y’know, all still part of the same store, and should be treated as such. But as we’ve found over and over, a chain’s retail storefronts and their web presence can be two very different beasts, with two different sets of inventory — and at two different sets of prices.

Over at consumer-focused website Consumer World, they’ve been doing some fall shopping and they’ve confirmed that some things never change. Price discrepancies between brick-and-mortar retailers and their online personas can be huge — and somewhat inexplicable.

Discrepancies are also widespread among retailers, and among product types. For example, Consumer World found:

• A desktop computer at Staples, advertised for $429.99 online but selling for $600 in-store
• A digital camera at Walmart, running $99 online and $139 in-store
• Laundry detergent pods at Target, selling for $17.99 online or $19.49 in-store
• A set of pots and pans at Sears, advertised at $79.88 online but selling for $130 in-store

But it’s not as simple as “the website is always cheaper than the store.” Consumer World also found items running the other way:

• A sound bar (speaker system) at Sears for $200 in-store, but $300 online
• A clearance barbecue at Kmart for $27 in-store or $107.99 online

The moral of the story? As always: shop around. Prices can be all over the map, and it’s unwise to make any assumptions about whether something is cheaper in the store or online.

Happily, in 2014 it can be easy to check. Got a smartphone? Pull it out, load up the retailer’s website, and double-check what’s cheaper before you head to the registers.

If the web version is a better deal, you may still be able to bring it out of the store with you same-day. Some retailers will price match their own (or competitors’) websites, but plenty of others won’t. Still, consumers have come up with all sorts of clever work-arounds in order to accomplish the same thing, including ordering in-store pickup at the same store you’re already in.

Click vs. Brick: Dramatic Price Differences Found at the Same Chain [Consumer World]

Last year, fungal contamination in yogurt made in Chobani’s new plant in Idaho led to problems with their products distributed nationwide. These problems ranged from “this yogurt tastes funny” to in-fridge explosions to dozens of illnesses that consumers attributed to the yogurt. Now, the Idaho plant’s local newspaper has learned that the state government may have known about the mold contamination long before any yogurts were pulled from stores.

Reports of problematic yogurts began to surface across the country around the beginning of September 2013, but it turns out that the problem may have been caught back in July. The Twin Falls Times-News obtained a Food and Drug Administration report about plant inspections through a federal Freedom of Information Act request. In that report, the FDA reports that inspectors from the Idaho State Department of Agriculture discovered the mold, Mucor circinelloides, on equipment in the plant.

The report describes state inspectors’ discovery of “yeast-like growth” in samples taken from the plant.

In July the routine Grade A sampling and testing samples taken by the Idaho Department of Agriculture (ISDA) from the Chobani Idaho Inc. production were visually noted, by the laboratory technician, that surface defects were present and additional testing was conducted noting a yeast like growth developing in the yogurt samples. ISDA followed-up with Chobani Idaho Inc. and the firm reviewed their keeping quality samples and found some samples beginning to show signs of swelling.

The report is redacted in parts to protect certain information from reaching Chobani’s competitors in the yogurt industry, but the report goes on to describe a thorough cleaning of the plant. However, things get confusing from here: a spokesperson for the state says that state inspectors did not discover mold during a July inspection, and that the agency doesn’t know where that information came from. If the information in the FDA report is true, it would mean that state regulators and Chobani knew that there was mold growing in its products for months, and let yogurt from the plant be distributed anyway.

State Knew Chobani Yogurt was Tainted Months before Recall, FDA Says [Twin Falls Times-News] (via Food Safety News)
FDA Chobani Inspection [Twin Falls Times-News]

It took 55 years to get there, but a wedding ring lost in a plane crash in the woods in Washington state has found its way back to the family of the woman who owned it. A logger found the ring in 1997, and just recently tracked down the daughter of a couple killed in a plane crash in 1959.

The New Jersey woman is happy to be reunited with her mother’s wedding ring, more than half a century after her parents were killed in an accident when her dad was flying them over western Washington in a small plane, reports the New York Daily News.

The ring wasn’t among the possessions of her parents recovered when the crash site was finally found in 1974, but instead sat waiting to be found until 1997, when a logger out for a walk found it lodged inside a tree near the site.

He did some research and found out the name of the owners, and kept the ring safe for 17 more years until he could bring it back to the family, if there were any.

“I never once though it belonged to me. I just was hoping there was a daughter or a family member I could turn it over to,” he said.

Recently his nephew helped him with his research, and found the couple’s daughter was living in New Jersey. The two got in touch, and the logger verified her identity before mailing the ring back.

“It was like my mother was reaching down from heaven,” the 78-year-old says of her luck.

New Jersey woman reunited with dead mother’s wedding ring 55 years after tragic plane death [New York Daily News]
Lost and found: An incredible reunion more than 55 years in the making [Q13Fox.com]

Let’s say you’re a criminal who has just purchased a bunch of credit/debit card numbers stolen from one of the data breaches that occur every day. How do you check to see if the numbers you’ve purchased are any good? For ID thieves in Brooklyn, the Domino’s Pizza ordering app provided a quick and easy way to run through those numbers — and get pizza for people.

According to the NY Times, Brooklyn police officers were monitoring various usual suspects’ social media accounts when they noticed the question “Who wants pizza?” and the Domino’s logo repeatedly popping up in folks’ timelines on Facebook.

When they checked with Domino’s HQ, the pizza company acknowledged there had been a spike in sales in the area.

Additionally, some people were not only making way too many pizza orders for one household to eat, but their successful orders were coming after multiple rejected attempts. One user made 2,000 ordering attempts in a single month, according to the police.

Police were able to work with Domino’s to determine which orders were likely placed with stolen card numbers, which came from people all over the country. Some folks noticed that their accounts were being used to order lots of pizza in Brooklyn and had contested the charges.

In November, police rounded up 14 suspects — almost all male teenager — over the course of two days. Some claim that they were guilty of nothing more than receiving a pizza.

“I didn’t order the pizza,” one 17-year-old arrestee tells the Times. “Someone ordered the pizza for me. The address was at my house.”

He claims that a friend offered to send him some free Domino’s, which is hard to say no to. But when he went downstairs to get the pizza from the delivery driver, he was cuffed and arrested.

The box for this toy giraffe says that it “Walks Along, Moves Head, And Shriek.” Verb tenses aside, that description is alarmingly accurate. The toy does all of those things, including shrieking like a demonically possessed creature as it walks along. While that makes the box accurate, it’s not clear to us who the intended audience for this toy would be.

The original submitter to Reddit says that the item came from a “knockoff toy store,” and it was priced at half off because objects of demonic possession usually aren’t big sellers.

When I was a toddler, an elderly relative brought me a gift of a toy robo-cat that would walk a few steps and then meow. I found it completely terrifying and ran away. The incident became a family legend and not a cautionary tale, but my fear of these critters was apparently quite valid. Just a few decades early, and applying to the wrong species of toy animal.

It’s been nearly 10 months since we told you about McDonald’s tiny test of a customizable burger option in a handful of its California restaurants. And in an attempt to turn around its sagging sales, the fast food megachain says it will be bringing the build-your-own concept to thousands more locations in the coming year.

USA Today reports that the plan is to expand the “Create Your Taste” program — though it’s apparently still considered a test — to McDonald’s stores in Illinois, Wisconsin, Georgia, Missouri, and Pennsylvania. The expansion will add around 2,000 locations that offer the option. McDonald’s currently has more than 14,000 restaurants in the U.S. alone.

In addition to allowing customers to customize their entire sandwich — from bun to protein (the expansion will add the option of chicken) to cheese to cheese to condiments — Create Your Taste involves the use of a separate tablet-style kiosk rather than going through the normal ordering routine.

After decades of streamlining the fast food production process to minimize customers’ wait times, McDonald’s says that Create Your Taste users are going to have to sacrifice speed if they want their sandwiches custom-made. The average wait time for a burger ordered this way is around seven minutes, significantly longer than most people expect to wait for a McDonald’s burger.

While that might be tolerable for in-store customers, who can wait at a table while their food is made, the extra time could bring the drive-thru line to a dead stop.

And don’t expect comparable menu prices for your bespoke burger. At one location visited by USA Today, a customized burger with medium fries and a drink cost $8.29, while the pre-made burger meal only comes in at $5 on the regular menu.

The company, which announced this morning that its drop in same-store sales was even worse than it had predicted, believes that people will be willing to pay more and wait longer, and is hoping that the customizable sandwich approach will appeal to younger consumers who view McDonald’s food as lacking compared to competitors who offer more options and higher-quality ingredients.

“This is a big deal,” says the senior vice president of U.S. menu innovation to USA Today. “We are all under some pressure that is coming from the business picture not being where we want it to be.”

One franchisee says that the use of the kiosks is important to attracting the younger consumers.

“Millennials would much rather order from a machine than face-to-face,” he explains, though he admits that the software for the ordering app has been less than perfect.

One of the common complaints from McDonald’s franchisees is that their corporate bosses have been forcing new and expensive menu options on them. If the company decides to keep rolling out the Create Your Taste option at more eateries, you can expect some push-back from franchisees with smaller stores who don’t have the space for the additional ingredients or room for ordering kiosks.

Cat owners: There is a debt of gratitude to be paid. Every time you walk into a home with a cat that doesn’t smell like cat pee, and every night that you spend comfortably in your bed with your favorite feline friend snoozing cozily on your feet is all because of one guy, when you get right down to it. He is the guy who invented kitty litter.

Seriously — the past was terrible before kitty litter. Sandboxes didn’t mask that awful ammonia scent that is the scourge of every cat owner, thus requiring many people to put kitty out for the night to do his bathroom business.

But then a man with an idea for chicken nesting material came along and changed everything, reports Businessweek.

A Michigan man named Ed Lowe in 1947 had the idea to take fuller’s earth, a kind of clay, and sell it to farmers for chickens to nest in, calling it Chicken Litter. Farmers weren’t biting however, but someone else had a need for a pile of dirt.

A local woman dropped by his dad’s delivery businesses in need of some sand for her cat box, as it was January and time for Mr. Whiskers to come in for the cold. Inspiration struck, and he offered her the fuller’s earth instead.

As it turns out, the stuff absorbed the ammonia stench, and the woman came back for more, bringing all her cat-loving friends.

And so it began — Lowe put fuller’s earth in bags, labeling them KITTY LITTER, and started selling it at hardware stores, supermarkets and pet stores.

He kept expanding his business in the face of new competition (anyone can sell dirt in a bag with the right customers), until his Tidy Cat brand officially launched in 1954, cementing Lowe in the Cat Owners’ Hall Of Fame forever.

“We aim to stay No. 1,” he said, “in a No. 2 business.”

The next time your foot falls asleep on a cold winter’s day because Sir Fancymittens cannot be disturbed from his slumber on it, just thank Ed Lowe. Because when a cat’s gotta go, he’s gonna go and it’s not going to smell nice if there’s no kitty litter.

The Birth of Kitty Litter [Businessweek]

A chlorine gas leak at a suburban Chicago hotel hosting an annual Midwest furry convention sent 19 people to hospitals because of nausea and dizziness and forced the evacuation of thousands of guests, including many in cartoonish animal costumes.

Say hello to Pepper, a 4-year-old terrier mix who's in need of a new home and maybe a bit of a makeover.

A snowy owl that was found injured at the Martin State Airport in Baltimore is ready to be released back into the wild.

Fourteen young whooping cranes have a new home in Vermilion Parish. They're part of a project to re-establish the endangered bird in the marshes of south Louisiana.